Blackwood Chronicles, page 1
Blackwood
Chronicles:
Inock Tehan and
the Return of
the Immortal Witch
A. A. Wise
Austin Macauley Publishers
Blackwood Chronicles: Inock Tehan and
the Return of the Immortal Witch
About the Author
Dedication
Copyright Information ©
Book Synopsis
Character Names and Descriptions
Chapter One : Inock’s Birthday
Chapter Two : Dead Witch at the Circus
Chapter Three : Power-Training with Tehan Tehan
Chapter Four : Mind to Mind Spell Versus Imperiuo Fenestram
Chapter Five : Magic Lesson
Chapter Six : The Anti-Venator Clan
Chapter Seven : The Venator Realm
Chapter Eight : James’s Return
Chapter Nine : The Inock’s Elixir
Chapter Ten : Attack of the Giant Multi- Coloured Bird
Chapter Eleven : Birth of the Five Immortals
Chapter Twelve : The Mourning Alien Teens
Chapter Thirteen : The Other Andre
Chapter Fourteen : The God Alloh!
Chapter Fifteen : Rescuing the Dark Witch
Chapter Sixteen : Secret Meetings
Chapter Seventeen : The Light Ball Spell
Chapter Eighteen : New Valley Village
Chapter Nineteen : Farewell Invasion
Chapter Twenty : Maliki Succeeds
Chapter Twenty One : Wars in New Valley Village
Chapter Twenty Two : Immotshap the Immortal
About the Author
Born in East Africa, Uganda, A. A. Wise moved to England, UK, when he was very young. He has been interested in fantasy books from a young age. Beyond reading and writing, his hobbies include travelling, keeping up with current events, watching movies and playing video games.
Dedication
To my loving mum. Thank you for the care and support.
Copyright Information ©
A. A. Wise 2022
The right of A. A. Wise to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by the author in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publishers.
Any person who commits any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, locales, and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.
A CIP catalogue record for this title is available from the British Library.
ISBN 9781398408951 (Paperback)
ISBN 9781398403291 (ePub e-book)
www.austinmacauley.com
First Published 2022
Austin Macauley Publishers Ltd®
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Canary Wharf
London
E14 5AA
Book Synopsis
Sixteen-year-old Inock is a demon with special powers. He lives in a magical world filled with witches, demons and wonderful mysteries yearning to be uncovered. There is a diabolical immortal witch that he has to prevent from rising to power. The struggle leads Inock and his friends to many dangerous situations and battles with dark witches and the hateful venators.
Character Names and
Descriptions
Inock Tehan:
Inock is a sixteen-year-old boy living in a magical world filled with witches and demons. He is the main character of the story. He is a demon himself with very special powers. Inock gets involved in an ancient mystery that leads him into dangerous situations.
Andre:
Andre is a sixteen-year-old black boy who is also a demon with supernatural powers. He can transform himself into any animal he pleases. Andre lives with Inock and his family, and likes to tell the truth; he respects his elders.
Lalita:
Lalita is a very clever sixteen-year-old girl who is a good friend of Inock’s. She is also a demon with special powers and is a young witch learning magic.
Rozanthia:
Rozanthia is a female ghost who died when she was twelve and so never grew any older. She has been the same age since she died many, many years ago. She is Inock’s secret friend since not many people know about her. She can turn and stay invisible for as long as she likes. This way, she follows Inock around without anyone knowing she is there.
Tehan:
Tehan is Inock’s father. He is a demon with supernatural powers and a very famous power-trainer who teaches other demons how to use their powers properly. He owns a Power-Training school.
Esttia:
Esttia is Inock’s mother. She works at Tehan’s Power-Training school as a receptionist and also mixes magical potions.
Torend:
Torend is Inock’s big brother. He is also a demon with special powers. He, too, is a power-trainer at Tehan’s Power-Training school who teaches other demons how to properly use their powers.
Laden:
Laden is Lalita’s big brother. He is a demon with special powers and a known troublemaker.
Tharah:
Tharah is a very beautiful girl who lives in Inock’s world. She is older than Inock and is a demon with the power to telepathically communicate with animals.
Mabiyah:
Mabiyah is an oracle who sends Inock and his friends on many dangerous missions. A demon with very special powers, she can see the future and is also an unnaturally old witch. She is very clever and helps a lot of people in Inock’s world because of her powers.
Esmatilda:
Esmatilda is a good witch who lives in the Haunted Valley ruins. She is a good friend of Inock’s.
Dentas:
Dentas is an ex-dark witch. She was arrested by the venators and Inock needs her help to defeat Immotshap, a long-lost immortal witch.
James:
James is a friend of the Oracle’s. He is a male witch with a dark past. He was killed but returns from death due to his immortality.
Ms Strict:
Ms Strict is Inock’s and Andre’s schoolteacher. She is a witch and she teaches the two boys upstairs in the power-training school next door to their home.
Villad:
Villad is a young demon with the power to turn himself and others invisible. He is a friend of Inock’s.
Rukia:
Rukia is a young woman who works in a potions shop in Kasama Market.
Rikelle:
Rikelle is Rukia’s younger sister. Inock starts going out with Rikelle.
Barnarbo:
Barnarbo is a male witch who co-owns and works on a farm that Inock, Andre and Lalita often visit.
Radock:
Radock is a venator who works in the Kasama venator lookout. Inock meets him when he starts working at the lookout.
Maliki:
Maliki is a young demon who Inock has issues with. He has the power to teleport himself.
Adem:
Adem is a descendant of Immotshap. He is a loyal supporter of Immotshap and is praised and worshipped by witches. He grants Rozanthia her body back.
Barla:
Barla is a dark witch who was killed by James. She plans to return Immotshap, a long-lost immortal witch, back to power.
Anandre:
Anandre is a male dark witch who was also killed by James. He also plans to return Immotshap back to power.
Immotshap:
Immotshap is an ancient immortal dark witch. He disappeared many years ago, and a group of dark witches want to find him and make him their leader once more.
Chapter One
Inock’s Birthday
Inock and Andre were in the Oracle’s chamber. Mabiyah, the Oracle, had summoned them there to do a job for her. Mabiyah was a good friend of Inock’s and Andre’s, and she was a very old witch who could see the future, the present and the past. She was tiny, barely five feet tall, with many wrinkles and a hunchback, and needed a small, crooked walking stick to stand and move around. She usually wore a cloak with the hood off and had thinning, white hair that was often tied back in a bun.
You see, Inock and Andre live in a very special world; a magical world filled with witches, demons and all kinds of wonderful creatures. Their world has many things different to ours; for example, their sky is green, not blue.
And in Inock’s world, there are many people who have special powers; people who can do magical things. Those people are called powerfuls and there are three types of powerfuls. There are demons; these are people who are born with all kinds of powers. There are witches; those are people who are not born with powers, but learn to use magic and witchcraft. (Just so you know, in Inock’s world, male witches are also called witches, not wizards.)
And finally, the third kind of powerful is a natural witch who does not necessarily need words of power or spells; witches who can affect the world around them by willing special things to happen.
Inock and Andre were themselves demons. Inock had the ability to use other demons’ powers when they were close by, but when those demons went away, Inock could no longer use their powers. But he had to know
Andre was Inock’s adopted brother. He was a red-haired black boy about Inock’s age, and he could transform himself into any animal he wanted. Right then, he was dressed in brown shorts and a red T-shirt and black sandals.
Many months had passed since Inock and his friends had defeated the dark witch Dentas and got her captured by the venators. (Venators were like the police of Inock’s realm.) Inock and his friends had grown and changed much since then.
Standing next to Andre, Inock looked excited. It was Wednesday, February the sixteenth, and today was Inock’s birthday; his sixteenth birthday. Inock’s family had an exciting day planned for him. They would later take him to a powerfuls-performers-only circus in the big city, Unatia, or Unatia district, as it was sometimes called.
Inock and Andre had been getting ready to go to the circus when the Oracle had summoned them with a peculiar clone of Inock. The clone knocked on Inock’s front door; Inock answered, and the clone went on to tell him—in Mabiyah’s small voice—that Mabiyah wanted them in her chambers immediately. (When the Oracle summoned Inock and Andre to her chambers, she often used strange means of doing it. Sometimes, it was odd clones of Inock, Andre, Lalita, or strangers that would then vanish before their eyes; at times it was talking animals and sometimes it was flying notes or talking paper aeroplanes.)
And the Oracle’s chamber was a weird and interesting place to be indeed. The whole space was lit by a turquoise light coming from a large glass bowl filled with a glowing, bubbling turquoise goo set on the only table in the small room. The table, accompanied by two chairs, was by the wall to the left of the space. Mabiyah was sitting in one of the chairs. In a grey cloak, she was smiling kindly at the boys.
‘Young ones, I have a special mission for you today,’ the Oracle said to Inock and Andre in her small voice. She had wished Inock a happy birthday then got straight to the reason she summoned them. There was no time to waste.
As always, all outside noise coming into the room was muted, even though the door was wide open. This was because of a magic spell cast by Mabiyah a long time ago.
You see, the Oracle’s chambers were inside a market, the Kasama Market, which is also where Inock and Andre lived. So, Inock was always pleased when he entered her chamber and the rest of the market noise was shut out.
Excited about the mission that the Oracle had for them, Inock was grinning, and had his hands in his black shorts pockets. (Most men and boys in Kasama—that was the district Inock and Andre lived in—wore shorts and T-shirts or vests since it was almost always hot in Kasama.)
Inock passed a hand through his black hair, which was in the shape of a perfectly round bowl with several strands sticking up at the crown; he’d been trying to get these strands to stay down for many months with hair gel but it seemed a tad impossible.
‘What’s the job, Oracle?’ Inock said, his voice clear. You see, Inock’s voice had had that funny sound to it as though it would break but never did. And about six months ago, it had finally broken, sounding more mature. And let me tell you, Inock was ever so pleased about this. He looked very happy indeed in his bright green T-shirt and sandals, and on top of his voice finally breaking, like Andre, Inock had grown about two feet in the last few months.
‘I need you to go to Omulilo Village to deliver a potion,’ said the Oracle. ‘There is a young witch there who needs it. But be warned, the village is a battlefield for powerfuls. I recommend you transform yourselves and fly there. Do not take gante.’ (Gante were the main means of conveyance in Kasama. They were wonderful creatures that looked like giant tigers with black and white stripes like zebras. They were generally over five feet tall and had long, wide tails that looked like platypus tails. Inock and Andre owned their own gante, which were kept at the market stables.)
‘Why can’t we take gante, Oracle?’ Andre asked. ‘Wouldn’t it be faster?’
‘I know it would be, young ones,’ Mabiyah said. ‘But I have foreseen that it is best for you not to take gante to Omulilo Village. It would be best if you both used your powers and flew there. You will find out why soon enough.’
‘Okay, Oracle, we’ll do as you say,’ Inock said grinning. He enjoyed going on missions for the Oracle very much.
The Oracle looked at the space between her and the boys, and a small glass bottle filled with a clear liquid appeared there, revolving in mid-air.
‘This is the potion the young witch needs,’ Mabiyah said. ‘It will transport her to a safe place. Take it, please. We have little time to waste.’
Inock grabbed the potion and pocketed it.
The Oracle then gave the boys directions to the village and the exact location of the witch.
‘Hurry, young ones. Leave urgently. The young witch is in great need of that potion,’ she finished by saying.
So Inock and Andre left the chamber and emerged into the bustling market. (The Oracle’s chamber was located somewhere in the south-eastern part of the market, along the market perimeter wall.)
Kasama Market was like a city within walls. The whole market was enclosed within towering, white stone walls, and had four main entrances. Each entrance was a great black gate. The market had grey concrete stalls that were permanent. The stalls were built in chains, so each stall was actually a small segment of a ring of stalls. And there were many rings making up the entire market.
The market had two bricked roads that dissected it into four equal quarters and ran straight through to the four market entrances. The roads were called “The Divider”.
Many people lived in the market. Some of the flats at the centre of the market and along the market boundary were shops, some were storage rooms, and others were people’s homes.
Like many in that district, most people in the market wore bright colours. Some were in shorts and sandals, and some wore hooded cloaks, which were usually to shield themselves from the scorching sun. And the people in the market were a mixture of colours, but on the whole, there were more dark-skinned people than not.
As always, the market was loud and busy with people moving in all directions, buying things, talking, or eating at the many stalls that sold ready-to-eat foods, and children playing here and there. And to add to the clamour, there were animals too.
Kasama was like a tropical country where sometimes the days were so hot, you could barely breathe. But sometimes it was cloudy. Sometimes, it was windy. And sometimes, it rained for a long time. But it was almost always hot.
Inock and Andre descended the white steps leading from the Oracle’s chamber, weaved through crowds, passing stalls laden with all sorts of goods—food, clothing, fabrics, shoes, potions, books and small pets—until they found a quiet spot behind a parchments stall.
‘Okay, let’s transform here and fly to Omulilo Village,’ Inock told Andre from behind the stall.
Andre nodded, then without a single word, transformed into a large red bird and took off into the sky towards the valley, making a passing woman in shorts and a white vest jump in fright.
Without hesitation, with his powers to copy other demons’ abilities, Inock transformed into a large green bird and took off after Andre. It was a strange feeling being a bird. Inock’s thoughts were all funny, his view was all different, his whole body still ached a little from the change, and he felt much smaller, but overall, it was an amazing feeling; he felt ever so light and free.
