Free The Ancient Lands: Warrior Quest, Search for the Ifa Scepter by Jason McCammon Page B

sacred tree, (trees being a conduit —a connection
between man’s world and the next.) each staff is to be used by only
one sorcerer, and it is therefore, bound to him alone. Only on very
rare occasions has a staff ever allowed itself to be used by
another. Let me stress this point again; only on very, very, rare
occasions.
    The bond between a sorcerer and his staff
continues throughout the sorcerer’s life, and beyond death. Even a
staff that is given to a young boy newly using his magic will grow
as the boy does. So, this symbiotic relationship between man and
his staff is not one to be taken lightly. Also, there is one other
valid point to make about staffs; they cannot be destroyed by any worldly means.
     
    Crystals-
    Most crystals or gems will amplify a
sorcerer’s power to some degree, but there is always a perfect
match for him. One that will do for him what no other can. And at
times it is a combination of crystals that will do the trick. That
is why you will see different sorcerers with different gems
embedded in their staffs. Some use rubies, some use onyx, and
others, diamonds perhaps.
     
    And so, the staff became a combination of
crystal and staff; where the crystal could be interchanged, but the
staff could not. (Again, there are always exceptions to every
rule.)

    A witch doctor named Hatari used diamonds.
Witch doctors are not inherently evil. Hatari, however, had chosen
to use his power for his own greed. Like his brothers and his
sister, Nyani, he too was cruel. They all sought to obtain more
power. They wanted to control the Ancient Lands. They took over
most of Madunia, each doing his share of destruction and chaos in
their own regions. For some time, Hatari had been the laughing
stock among his siblings. He was the only one who had not obtained
control over any of the inhabited lands. King Jott, Jumbe’s
grandfather had managed to keep him at bay, convincing him not to
enter his kingdom or go beyond the boundaries of the Forbidden
Expanse, located at the southern end of Madunia.
    Hatari knew that getting control of the Ifa
Scepter would take its toll on the well-being of the Kingdom of
Ufalme, the only kingdom that stood in his way of moving his army
north, into the inhabited lands of Madunia.
    Hatari chose his time of attack wisely. He
waited until King Jott was on his deathbed, and using the slight
confusion of the change of power to his advantage, he posted
his troops just out the view of Ufalme’s guards until he heard word
of the funeral. Then he ordered his army to attack.
    He knew that he couldn’t win the battle.
Ufalme’s army was far too large and too well trained by Jott’s
generals to be beaten by his ogre’s, but there was enough of a
distraction for him to sneak himself inside and grab the Ifa
Scepter. King Jumbe’s father, Haki was less of a mystical man than
his father, Jott. And when his time came to rule, he did not pursue
the scepter. Sadly, his reign was short. In a sickened state, he
fell into a deep sleep and never woke up. When Jumbe received the
throne, he was young. He followed in his father’s footsteps, never
giving the Ifa Scepter a second thought.
    So, the scepter remained with Hatari. Thus
he built his army, larger, and stronger, while the prosperity of
Ufalme dwindled. Over time, the scepter was making him more
powerful than ever before.
    He combined the scepter's power with the
crystals he knew that would make him stronger —diamonds. Yet he
wasn’t satisfied with the two that he kept in the eyes of his skull
and bones staff. Insatiably, he wanted a mountain filled with them.
He would use them and the scepter to reach the height of his power.
He wouldn’t leave before his power was at its peak, and yes, this
took years.
    He employed the work of ogres to mine the
mountains for him and to do most of his bidding. It wasn’t hard for
him to convince the ogre-kind that man was their enemy and that
they should obey and work for him. Man had treated them as