Knights of the Wizard (of Knights and Wizards Book 2)

by Gallant, A. J.

  “What happened to you?” he said to the raven. Picking it up Ackley examined it, quite a handsome raven he thought even though most ravens looked basically the same, but this one had a single white feather. His mother taught him that it was good luck to heal an injured bird, luck was something that they could use, so even though the bird might not make the trek back with him he decided to give it a try nonetheless, placing it in with the other dead birds. Berhtram being in such a weakened condition went to sleep.

  Ackley returned to his three room hut about a half mile from the castle in Kaday, where three chickens were pecking the ground in the coop. Inside his mother was drinking cider, his brothers nowhere to be seen. In one room were two goats eating grass off the floor near the far wall, one wandered out past the boy, being tethered to a rope around the oak tree in the front yard.

  “Did you get anything?” his mother asked. She was worn down by life but tried hard not to show it, life just wasn’t the same since her husband Edward passed, keeping a positive attitude in front of her children but crying when they weren’t around. Some days she had hope for the future but those days were the exception. Her face was aged beyond her years.

  “I got two crows and a pigeon and a badly injured raven.”

  Millicent perked up at the thought of the injured bird. “Injured raven you say?”

  “Don’t get your hopes up mother because I don’t think he’s going to make it. Two broken wings by the look of it.” Ackley took the bird and set the raven on the crooked table and they both stared down at the poor thing.

  “Why don’t you bring it over to Juliana? They say that trying to help an injured bird can bring a little luck even if it doesn’t make it.” Millicent had a faraway look in her eyes. “You’re not the one that hurt it are you, because if you are the luck won’t take.”

  Ackley gently touched the bird. “No mother I found it on the ground.”

  She took Ackley’s face in her hands and gazed into his green eyes. “Because if you’re the one that hurt it then it will bring bad luck not good, certain things are not to be fooled with. Do you understand?”

  “I promise you mother I only found it.” He definitely didn’t want to bring bad luck down upon them.

  Millicent nodded. “Bring it over to Juliana then. With the king giving your brothers permission to hunt for deer for two days maybe they’ll get one. We haven’t had deer in ages, making me hungry just thinking about it.”

  “Making my stomach growl,” said Ackley. “I was eating deer this morning but then I woke up.”

  The boy found Juliana feeding her chickens in the backyard, an elderly woman that was stooped over; she was dressed in black with a hump on her back. He showed her the raven and told her what his mother had said and she took it inside, the boy followed her in to watch her work. She placed both hands over Berhtram, judging the amount of life energy that remained.

  “Can you heal him?”

  “The poor thing,” said Juliana in her raspy voice. “Not much life left in it. Usually for a bird to survive it must have more life in it than death, this one is almost ready to give up the ghost.”

  The boy nodded. “Mother says that we can get a little luck just by trying to save it.”

  “That’s true,” said Juliana. They went inside and the old woman had more than a dozen baskets against the wall, picking up one that appeared to contain a small block of wet mud. She took a chunk out of it, sprinkling what looked to be a yellow spice with black specks into the mud, when she was sure it was completely mixed she commenced to apply it to Bertram’s wings. “I’m not sure if the poor thing will survive this, must be awful painful. Pain can hurry one’s journey to the other side. The raven will likely decide that it’s not worth the fight.”

  Ackley watched as she coated both wings with the mud, placing the raven in a basket and giving it back to him.

  “Thank you Juliana.”

  “You tell your mother if he won’t eat then it’s best to do away with him rather than let him suffer.” Juliana tapped the boy on the head. “One thing is for sure the bird will never fly again.”

  He thought about a bird not being able to fly. “He’s not gonna be happy about that.”

  TWENTY-TWO

  KING KAI WALKED AMONGST HIS MEN as more than seventeen thousand warriors had gathered, more than a half a dozen generals nodded as he past them. His almond eyes were quite attractive, his long beard down to his chest, each soldier anxious to prove their worth to the king. The second in command was ill and many were sure that his prized position would soon be available, because when the king died his second in command would become king, which brought instant respect for whoever was chosen to be second in rank.

  The Dwagord were out to kill and conquer. They knew that life was short and their creed was to pillage and spread their seed throughout the world, so that their spirits could overrun the afterlife and take over there as well. The Dwagord always looked for signs; a dead bird could be enough to postpone a battle for weeks, but ultimately it was whatever the king commanded. Yet they had known about the kingdoms on the other side of the mountain range, having flown over it on the back of a dragon. The only path through the mountains was too high to climb because of the lack of oxygen. Even on the back of a dragon with a breathing spell it had been risky with so little oxygen, the adventurer that had flown over, telling the king what he had seen, had perished several days later. The enchantment had also succumbed to the lack of oxygen.

  A warrior ran up to the king. “The mirror your majesty.”

  The king took the small mirror and looked through it; it could see almost a hundred miles in any direction, however being away from its source of power, the crimson boulder, the image flickered and went black; he did manage to see at least seven kingdoms before it went dark. Disappointed Kai handed it back to his servant and told him to give it to Daijulan to see if he could do anything with it.

  Kai took in a deep breath and thought that even the air smelled different here, some sort of flowery scent. He looked up and pointed, two black dragons were mating. Perhaps this was a land of dragons? Back in Caoma dragons were rare, with one or two sightings a year but in this new land they had already spotted more than a dozen. He didn’t like dragons as they were magical beasts that could ruin one’s day with a single burst of fire but at least they tended to keep to themselves.

  The two black dragons broke off from mating, swooped down low over Kai and his men for a closer look and then flew east. Sometimes Kai had dreams that he was a mighty red dragon that the whole world feared but was always disappointed when he opened his eyes to discover the reality of being human.

  The king hoped that this strange place was ripe for the picking.

  TWENTY-THREE

  ASH MANAGED TO CAST A HUGE SEE-THROUGH KITE SHIELD which appeared just outside the entrance to their lair, he had no idea if it would hold against Charox’s magical flame as they all braced for impact, knowing that this could indeed be the end, and for a few seconds all they could see was the fire heading towards them. But the shield held, the golden red flame deflected, spreading in both directions as it hit the rock face, burning small trees that were growing on the side of the mountain. The outcome angered the attacking dragon and as it approached the shield struck him in the face as if held by some giant unseen hand, pushing Charox back and hurting him. Charox pumped his mighty wings and held himself in place as he accessed the situation; he backed up and went through many different spells and then launched a fiery spear and it did stick into the kite shaped shield but was unable to penetrate it fully. Within moments the spear turned to black dust and was blown away by the wind.

  The gray dragon ran himself into the shield, not flying as fast as he could but hard enough to break just about anything, only a small section of his shoulder scales was visible from inside the cave as he hit, so hard that it felt like an earthquake. When the shield didn’t break he went up on top of the cliff and sulked for several minutes, decided to dig his
way in, but the shield followed him, went under him and blocked Charox. He flew back to the entrance as fast as he could but the shield beat him there, frustrated he gave the obstacle a mighty kick but only managed to hurt himself. The grey thought that he was one of the greatest dragons that ever lived, might be best to pretend that he really didn’t want to get in there rather than admit that he couldn’t. Things usually went so well for greys that it was psychologically difficult to admit defeat. He envisioned burning them all to a crisp but it didn’t help.

  “I see you in there you little bastard!” screamed Charox. “You can’t live without food and I’ll starve you out.” The fact that the shield had hurt him made him wonder just how powerful that young dragon was. He couldn’t be more powerful than him, equally powerful would be bad enough. The dragon flew up and out of sight, suddenly reappearing as he tried to get behind the shield, but his effort only brought him another smash in the forehead. Charox wasn’t sure if he would have the patience to wait them out because his stomach was already growling.

  Cinder-Ella ran up to Ash hugging him. “You saved us.”

  Zedock looked worried. “You either have to kill him or transform him into something that can’t hurt us. He’s certainly determined to hurt you. Did you see the size of that monster?”

  “The worst part is that he’s also a wizard,” said Ash.

  Several days passed and everyone was getting restless, not being able to fly was driving them all bonkers and Charox’s huge eyeball peering in every now and then didn’t make it any easier. Firestorm and Cinder-Ella were flying around inside the cave but it wasn’t the same, even the baby dragons had a strong desire to go outside and feel the wind on their faces. In a race to the end of the cave Firestorm bit Cinder-Ella’s tail to try to stop her from winning and then they got into a fight, biting and pushing, bouncing fire off one another and off the walls. For a time they both bit into one another’s tails and wouldn’t let go.

  “Stop it the both of you!” Ella screamed. “Zedock do something with your kids.”

  Zedock shook his head. “My kids? My kids wouldn’t be acting like that. I think those two are yours. The wizard’s mine.”

  Ash liked the sound of that.

  Ella gave Zedock a stern look. “Trapped in here is driving us all nuts.”

  “Father is a mountain,” said Cinder-Ella. “Let’s climb him!”

  “I’ll race you!” Firestorm screamed.

  Zedock shook his head. “Don’t you dare!”

  But up Zedock’s tail they went, fighting and scratching their way up until the both of them were on top of his head.

  Cinder-Ella jumped up and down. “I won!”

  “No you didn’t! My nose was here first!” said Firestorm.

  Ella giggled. “Oh for goodness sake, get down off your father’s head.”

  Zedock took the both of them off of his head. “That is it! I’m going out there to talk some sense into that beast.”

  Ash had been sitting near the wall going through a myriad of spells in an attempt to find one that would work when he noticed his father heading towards the exit, and had to quickly fly in front of him to stop him. “Father no! I’ve had dreams about him biting your head off.”

  Zedock sat dejected staring out at the blue sky. “Ella will you still love me without a head?”

  Ella nodded. “Might love you more because then maybe you’d shut up! I didn’t mean that honey it’s the stress of being trapped in here.”

  “I’m hungry,” said Firestorm.

  “I’m hungry too.”

  Ella shook her head. “What did we say? We can go a long time without eating although we’ll be hungry. You don’t want your father to go out there and get his head bitten off do you?”

  They both shook their heads and they spoke. “No.”

  Cinder-Ella spread out her wings to make herself look big and started toward the door. “That’s it; I’m going out there to kill that grey beast. Don’t try to stop me. Here I go. I’m going now.” She slowly walked towards the exit. “Somebody better stop me!” Charox’s huge eyeball suddenly looked in, making her scream and run behind Zedock.

  Ash was blinking as he went through spells in his head, came upon a spell that looked interesting.

  BALLS OF STENCH

  Probability of success against a grey: Unknown

  Potency: Few able to withstand

  “I’m gonna try something.” Ash launched five balls of stench outside, encapsulating a brown mist within each one and after they floated up a ways they exploded releasing the stench, and soon they could hear the grey coughing and complaining, finally flying off because he couldn’t stand it any longer.

  “You dragons are lucky that I didn’t really want to get in there.”

  TWENTY-FOUR

  IT WAS A DARK ATMOSPHERE outside the castle walls; the area was lit by seven torches that were stuck in the ground, the sound of their flames dancing in the light breeze was pleasant enough, the scent of the smoke they were producing not as pleasant. The crescent moon hung low in the sky with billions of stars for company. An owl that had been sitting on one of the towers scanning the area for rodents suddenly flew off, hearing movement that it didn’t like. The Dwagord sidled along the wall, their weapons ready to dish out servings of death, quietly moving forward. They had stumbled upon a castle that seemed to be out in the middle of nowhere, had observed it for days and realized that they could probably take it.

  They came like ghosts in the night, running with silent footsteps. Patrick and Hadrian were the knights standing guard outside the castle and were quickly overwhelmed by thirteen of the Dwagord, both chopped to death by their battle axes but the ruckus brought out other knights to defend. Darkford and Percy ran out and fought valiantly, beating several of the enemy back with ferocious swords, the clash of metal against metal making its way through the night, killing three of the enemy but were subsequently surrounded and killed.

  Grunts and swords cut through the air, battle axes penetrated armour creating fatal wounds that could never be healed. The battle was short and furious, and with all the knights vanquished the Dwagord made their way through the castle to see what they could find.

  TWENTY FIVE

  MARCUS AND RAINA MADE IT BACK TO THE CASTLE only to discover all his knights were dead, along with about seven of the Dwagord and they cried at the horrible sight. Six of the enemy remained inside the castle; one stuck his head outside the window high above and looked down, seeing Marcus, Raina and the golden knight he shouted commands for them to be killed as well, waking some of his comrades as they slept.

  “They’re still here!” Raina screamed.

  One of the Dwagord warriors ran out of the castle like a manic out of the bowels of hell, his double edged sword over his head but was met by Brother’s sword. The fellows head ended up rolling across the ground, coming to a halt near Raina who kicked it away. Another of the enemy that only had a single eye, the other eye having been lost in battle, exited and Raina put an arrow through his good eye, killing him.

  “Brother,” said Marcus. “Kill them all!”

  Brother entered the castle killing one of the Dwagord that ran at him with a halberd, the knight running his sword through his stomach. Marcus and Raina hurried up the stairs and watched as one was tossed out the window screaming until death took him when he hit the ground. Raina prepared her white bow with an arrow just in case one got out, and sure enough a large brute ran at her with his battle axe and she caught him in the throat and then in the chest, killing him. She considered that being around the wizard was even more dangerous than she had anticipated but she wasn’t about to give up on him, a sorcerer was the most powerful ally that a person could have.

  The all made their way outside to get away from the stench that they had brought into the castle. The knight pushed his bloody sword into the ground, standing with his arms crossed and then nodded to the boy. All the Dwagord were now deceased but it didn’t help any of his dead knights,
all their families would receive the terrible news soon enough. Raina pointed and Marcus could see his sister in the distance along with four other knights with a donkey being pulled behind them, and they were forced to move at the donkey’s pace. He guessed the donkey might be Abbey, which wasn’t good news for Marcus but how was she still in donkey form outside of his chamber?

  When Alexa finally reached Marcus she dismounted from her horse and ran towards her brother when Brother got in her way, she kicked the golden knight hard but only managed to hurt her foot. “Marcus what the hell happened here? Are all your guards dead?”

  “Those bastards killed all my knights.” He had tears streaming down his face. Marcus looked at Darkford’s corpse and then had to turn away. King Darius would make sure he took care of their families but there was no way to replace a loved one, lives would be forever changed. He also knew that some people would blame him, after all they had been dispatched to protect him, and some might even start rumors that an errant enchantment had killed them.

  “Marcus, Abbey’s a donkey, she’s out of your chamber and she’s still a donkey! You better fix this! Now!”

  “I don’t know how.” It was getting to be too much for Marcus to deal with; this business of being a wizard was nothing but trouble.

  As Alexa tried to grab Marcus, Brother stepped in and stopped her. “Who the hell is this idiot?”

  “I conjured him.”

  “You actually conjured something?” Alexa stared up at Brother.