The Adventures of Zeke and Ledford: Book One: The Dark Wizard and the Mallenknory Stone

By J.S.Siler

Welcome to Gazette, a nice, prosperous town located in the land of Erihs. For many years, the mice of Gazette lived in peace and harmony. With a very successful fire sap mine, they had all they could ever need—till that dark, dark day many years ago when it all changed. The evil Mallenknory mice invaded the peaceful town of Gazette and have ruthlessly ruled over it for many, many years, dividing its citizens and forcing the children to work the fire sap mines to fatten their evil pockets. But there is hope—a prophecy! All the mice of Gazette hold on to the hope that the prophecy of the Chosen One is true. Could this “Chosen One” save them as foretold? Or will they continue to suffer under the iron paw of the Mallenknory for all time? Defeating the Mallenknory requires the magical and believed to be mythical (by most mice) stone of Mallenknory. With this stone, the Chosen One could defeat the evil Mallenknory mice. But the stone is in the hands of the darkest of dark and supremely evil Dark Wizard! He’ll have to be defeated to get it. Can it be done? Could it be done? Does it even exist? Does the Chosen One exist? For many, many years the citizens of Gazette have waited for the Chosen One’s arrival to free them from the oppression of the Mallenknory. Is the wait for their freedom over? Come with me and travel to Gazette and join Zeke and Ledford on their first magical adventure into the unknown.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Christian Faith Publishing, Inc.
• Release date: Mar 8, 2022
• ISBN: 9781098092825

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The Adventures of Zeke and Ledford

Book One: The Dark Wizard and the Mallenknory Stone

J.S.Siler

Copyright © 2021 by J. S. Siler

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods without the prior written permission of the publisher. For permission requests, solicit the publisher via the address below.

Christian Faith Publishing, Inc.

832 Park Avenue

Meadville, PA 16335

www.christianfaithpublishing.com

Printed in the United States of America

Table of Contents

The Journal

Crossing Gazette

The Discovery

The Great Grass

New Help

Love and Lost

Journey to Terramor

An Apprentice

The Dark Wizard’s Territory

The Final Battle

To my mother, father, and my lovely angel of a wife. Without you and your love, this book would not have happened. I love you all!

Prologue

Long, long ago in a land far, far…well actually, to be truthful, which one always should be, it’s not quite that far away. There was a land full of magic, wonder, and endless possibilities where dreams and fantasies lived. Some say it has faded and disappeared over time. I, my friend, however, disagree. It’s still there if you look hard enough and believe. Do you believe? Before you now lies the land of Erihs and particularly the kingdom of Gazette, a very peaceful and friendly kingdom.

Gazette was mainly a farming kingdom. The mice of Gazette loved their king and queen and felt as rich as any mice anywhere in Erihs. For thousands of years, Gazette enjoyed peace and harmony. Then one day, while tilling his field, a farmer broke his plow on what he thought was a rock. Turns out it was no rock but something totally different. It was a big chunk of fire sap, which turns out to be a fantastic source of fuel for heating and lighting as well as once broken down, it can be used for a numerous other things. With such a needed commodity, Gazette quickly became one of the richest kingdoms and the main hub of trade and commerce in Erihs.

Unfortunately, such wealth did not only draw good, hard-working citizens, it also got the attention of some mice who were quite different. It was a beautiful and sunny morning. The kingdom was alive with activity as mice rushed about doing their daily activities. The school bell was ringing as the children rushed off to school and shop owners opened their shops, displaying their wares. Another great day in Gazette.

Suddenly out of the East they came! It was the mice of Mallenknory riding upon battle rats! Gazette was under attack! Yes, those riches had acquired the wrong kind of attention, and the Mallenknory wanted it—they wanted it all! Although Gazette had a mighty military, they were caught totally unaware by this unsolicited attack, and they were quickly overrun and defeated. To make it even easier, the Mallenknory were aided by the evil dark wizard; and though he was far away in his fortress, his evil was far-reaching, and he helped the Mallenknory do what they do best—raid, pillage, and destroy! Once the Mallenknory had taken over your town, if there was profit to be had long term, they would set up a permanent residence and rule over the territory, draining it of its resources.

Such was the fate of Gazette. The Mallenknory instantly split the town in two. Upper Gazette was now for the wealthy and those willing to do the Mallenknory’s bidding without question. Lower Gazette was now for the poor working and poverty-stricken mice of Gazette, also those cast out from the upper crust of Gazette.

Once the Mallenknory had established rule over the Gazette, they rounded up a lot of the children. The guards came around with a list of ragamuffins who were mainly children of those who questioned the rule of the Mallenknory or any of those parents that were in a position of power in the old government. Then there were the children that had magic. Now these special children went to the heavily monitored and restricted Erihs school of magic as they could be monitored and brought up to use their magic for the glory of Mallenknory. As for the rounding up of the ragamuffins, the Mallenknory saw this as a way of making sure the adults of Gazette did exactly as told, for it also served another evil and greedy purpose.

The fire sap mines were worth more money than the Mallenknory could count, and now it needed mining. So they sent the children to the mines and used them as leverage to keep the adults in line. Thus became life in Gazette for a long time, and it was hard. Do as you’re told or suffer, for you do not live for yourself. You live only for the love of Mallenknory.

One of the families cast out from Upper Gazette was the family of James Preston with his wife, Ouida, and one child. James was the master craftsman and blacksmith for the King of Gazette. Once the Mallenknory had taken over, his talents were highly looked upon and held in high regard. James stayed out of politics as much as he could and stuck to his work. Ouida was one of the senior messengers and political assistants working at the courthouse. Life was good for the Prestons until that fateful day. They came in without warning or notice. Guards? Guards came busting into James’s shop and dragged him out into the street where a massive crowd had gathered outside. As far as James could tell, when he looked at the crowd, they were mostly Mallenknory as well as some of the turncoat citizens of Gazette. They were all extremely upset at James, and he did not know why.

What is going on? What is the meaning of this? Why have you drug me out here, and why are they all screaming at me?

The sergeant of the guards looked over at James. You? You have done nothing. Your father, on the other hand, is an enemy of the state! And you, being his family, are being cast out. Be thankful that’s all we’re doing. We discovered that your father has went on some quest for this mythical Mallenknory stone, believing himself to be some ‘chosen one,’ and once he finds the stone, he’s supposedly going to defeat us.

Everyone laughed loudly. In the background, James kept hearing, Your father’s a traitor! Your family is trash!

The guard turned around and waved his arm at the people. See, everyone here’s upset because it seems your father made some promises he knew he couldn’t keep and took a lot of money and goods that your fellow citizens here of Gazette sorely needed. Now, they are quite upset. The guard pushed James down the street in the direction of his home. From this day forward, you and your family are cast out of Upper Gazette, and you are stripped of all titles, monies, and possessions. You are to go to your home, gather your family and what possessions you can carry, and move to Lower Gazette. With that, the guard turned toward the crowd and dismissed them. Go on home now, all of you. Show’s over!

The guards began to walk away, leaving a stunned James standing there alone. The sergeant of the guards stopped and turned back toward James. You need to get moving, now. He turned and walked away.

James stood there, still stunned for a second but knew he had to move and go collect his family. James quickly gathered up his confused wife and child, leaving Upper Gazette behind.

It didn’t take long for James and his family to set up a life in Lower Gazette. He quickly became the main blacksmith of Lower Gazette although even in Lower Gazette there were still quite a few citizens that looked upon them as the family of a traitor and wanted nothing to do with them. So James and his wife, Ouida, as well as their son had no friends or family to count on. Although they had plenty of mice they were friendly to, there were none they would classify as friends. That would soon change.

Finally, the youngest was of age, and he could now begin junior wizard school. James and Ouida were proud because since the Mallenknory took over control of Gazette, magic had become a restricted profession, and few mice were ever taken from Lower Gazette to attend the school. The fact that their son, grandson of the traitor Willie the Green had been accepted to junior wizard school was amazing! They knew their son had the chance to be a powerful wizard if trained properly, so they were not going to say anything, and they would just keep quiet.

I can’t believe our boy’s been accepted, James! I mean that whole thing with your father.

James raised his paw. Now, dear, we don’t need any of that talk. He walked over, placing both paws on his wife’s shoulders and looked her in the eyes. Let’s just let this be his day.

She nodded in agreement. I know. I’m just worried that when he goes to the school, there will be bullies there, and they’ll give him a hard time about that.

James nodded. Oh, I’m sure you’re right, dear, but he must face these things eventually.

With that, their son came bounding down the steps, excited for his first day of school! Well, I’m all ready! Check me out. He danced around in his junior wizard robes, all ready to become the greatest wizard ever! "The Chosen One!" he said with arms out wide.

Ouida and James giggled at the sight of their son being so goofy. James picked up his son’s pack and handed it to him. Now you get on off to school. Make sure you pay attention no matter what, and don’t cause any problems. Just be a good young student.

He took his pack and quickly raced out the front door as James and Ouida watched as he skipped down the street. Halfway to school, he stopped and looked down this mostly dark and kinda spooky alley. There were lights in the alley, yes; but being Lower Gazette, half of them didn’t work, and the ones that did only did some of the time. Mostly they just flashed on and off. He knew he didn’t have much time, but as he looked down the alley, he thought to himself, If I take this alley, it’ll cut my time in half in going to school. But it looks awful rough down there.

He stood there for a second and realized he didn’t have much time to waste. Welp, here we go!

So down the alley he went. He walked very quickly. He knew a little bit of magic, but tying your shoe or floating some dishes across the room won’t help much in a scuffle. So he wasted little time in scurrying down the alley. Just up ahead, he could see the exit of the alley and not much further down the street the junior wizard school! Suddenly the light of the exit interview of the school down the street was blocked by three big kids dressed in junior wizard robes with gold trim—seniors!

The young mouse waved his paw at the three big kids. Hey there, guys. What’s up? It’s my first day, little nervous.

The three big kids were now standing directly in front of him. The one in the center hatefully shoved him to the ground. "Oh, shut up. We know who you are, and we don’t care. Your grandfather was a traitor, so you and the rest of your family are garbage just like he was!

Slowly the kid was getting to his feet. My grandfather was not a…

Suddenly the three big kids jumped him. Get him! They quickly knocked him to the ground and then began to kick him as he lay on the ground, saying the most hateful things about him and his family! All he could think was, Why are they doing this to me? I don’t even know you! as he lay there in a ball being kicked. It stopped. The kicking stopped.

As he lay there, afraid to move, he slowly opened one eye. Now before him, he only saw one big mouse—one really big mouse!

You okay, little guy?

He was expecting to hear the voice of an adult, but this was not the voice of an adult! That’s a kid like me! Yeah, I’m okay, I guess, he said as he stood there, dusting off his junior wizard robes. What, is it your turn now? You going to beat me up for being the grandson of Willie the Green?

The really big kid chuckled. Naw…silly. I’m the one who run them off for you. Everyone seems to be afraid of me because of my size. The big kid leaned over a little bit and whispered, Honestly, I don’t know how to fight and actually hate it. He stood back up straight. I just wasn’t going to stand for them to treating you like that. No one deserves that.

Smaller kid walked up with his paw out to shake hands. Well, I’m glad they’re cowards like most bullies and ran off at just the sight of you. Thanks for saving me. I owe you big time!

The big kid stuck out his paw, and they began to shake. You’re welcome anytime, my friend. Oh, sorry, name’s Ledford.

The smaller mouse nodded. Hi, Ledford, I’m Ezekiel Preston. You can just call me Zeke.

Chapter 1

The Journal

Zeke sighed heavily as he fidgeted in his chair. He tried to listen to his father but impatiently watched his feet dangling from the chair that he sat in instead. While exciting and wondrous, he had heard this tale many times, and Zeke had better and more fun things to do rather than listening to his father rattle on about the tale of the Dark Wizard and the magical Mallenknory Stone.

Pay attention, Ezekiel, said his father. The story of the chosen one and the stone of the Mallenknory could save your life someday.

The tale of the dark wizard and the Mallenknory stone was one of hope, love, and family. It is also a tale of despair, danger, and hate. It had begun many years ago when the mice of Gazette lived in peace and harmony. Then one day, out of the East came the Mallenknory mice atop their battle rats. They were a warrior mouse society bent on pillaging and sacking as much as they could. If there was a profit to be made long term, they would take over the town and rule it with an iron fist. They would then bleed the town dry of anything that they could obtain a profit from with no regard for citizens of the town or their safety. Thus, this was the fate of Gazette. After realizing that they could make a huge profit mining and selling fire sap, they installed their rule over Gazette and all the surrounding villages and all of Erihs.

But why must I hear this again, Papa? said Zeke.

James thought for a second then looked at his son. This is a true tale, Ezekiel. One of danger, yes, but full of lessons that need to be learned, and it would pay you good to listen to what I say. I only wish your grandfather had paid more attention to the story.

Zeke was kind of taken back by that comment because his grandfather knew everything about this story. What do you mean? Pappy knew everything about this story!

James looked at Zeke with a look saying that’s enough.