The sorcerer nodded. “Well I was sleep walking when I did it, so I don’t know how I did it but I did. Fights like a demon and has already saved us twice. And it turns out I’m a wizard that needs a wand.”
“A what?”
“That’s what I said. It’s like a stick that you use to point with and cast spells. Like a brook molds the water a wand will let me shape and control my power or so I was told.” Marcus watched as the other knights examined the Dwagord warriors. “Berhtram kept bringing me branches so I think he might have been telling me I needed a wand but don’t ask me how he knew.”
“Bertram’s missing and father fears the worst. He went out after a crow and never came back.”
“Father went out after a crow?” Marcus asked.
“Berhtram went after a crow you idiot and never came back.” Alexa sized up Raina. She had to calm down but her daughter now a donkey made it difficult. “And who is this?”
“This is Raina. She helped me figure out that I need a wand.” Marcus scanned the sky for Ryxa; she had flown off to get some food.
“I’m from Linyth and--”
“Save your breath Raina, if you’re hanging around with Marcus you’re not gonna be from anywhere soon.” Alexa turned her attention back to Marcus. “I need you to fix Abbey now or I’m gonna send Stone after you!”
“Stone won’t come after me and I don’t know how! If it weren’t for bad luck we wouldn’t have any luck at all, one thing after another after another.” Marcus shook his head. What if Abbey remained a donkey forever?
Brother bent over and whispered into Marcus’s ear, the voice was faint but perceptible. “Ask the donkey if she can turn back into a baby.”
Marcus was surprised. “So you can talk. Abbey come here.” He was tapping his hands on his thighs as if she was a dog.
The colt ran over to Marcus because she liked to have her ears scratched and was happy to see him again. “Abbey, you like being a donkey don’t you?”
The donkey nodded.
“You can’t change back into a girl can you?” asked Marcus. “I don’t think you can.”
The donkey nodded again.
Marcus smiled. “Oh I don’t believe you. Let me see.”
And just like that Abbey was once again a little girl clapping her little hands. Alexa picked her up and hugged and kissed her. “So she can change whenever she wants to change? She’s only a donkey when she wants to be?”
Marcus nodded. “Looks that way. Raina, I’ve been thinking, we’ll have to take some provisions with us if we are going to seek out that wand. After these brave knights are buried I’ll be back and then we’ll head out. I think it might be best if you go home for a while. You might want to think about how dangerous it is being around me.”
“Marcus, when do you think you’ll be back?” Raina asked.
“Less than a week I imagine.”
“You should get Brother to bury the other one’s before you leave.”
Marcus nodded.
Alexa mounted her horse. “We’ll send a cart and a legion of knights back for the bodies.”
Marcus imagined that a thousand knights would be an impressive sight.
TWENTY-SIX
ACKLEY FINISHED CHOPPING HIS ASH FIREWOOD and stared at a blister on his right hand and then at his mother who was tending to the chickens; he had an idea what she was going to say and wondered if he could sneak off and go hunting before she said it. His sling was just inside the door and if she was sufficiently preoccupied he might be able to grab it and get going before she noticed but while attempting to enter the hut she turned and saw him.
“Ackley, try to feed the raven, if he still won’t eat bring him out here and end his suffering. I think it’s time.” She stood akimbo, knowing that he had been caught trying to sneak away, trying to give the bird one more day. “Poor thing.”
Ackley looked at his mother, her hair a little bushier than usual, knowing that this was it. He knew she was probably right but still. He had been hoping that the raven would perk up but he envisioned that he wouldn’t be happy either if he was a bird that couldn’t fly. “Why don’t we just give him one more day?”
She tossed another handful of feed at the chickens. “This is the more merciful way.”
“Yes mother.”
“And bring the bird out here I don’t want you telling me he ate when he didn’t.”
“Yes Mother.” Ackley sighed and slowly made his way in to get the raven.
Berhtram remained in a basket on the floor, not yet dead but not that far from the other side either. Some of the dried mud had fallen off the birds wings, making them a little lighter. Ackley looked down at the bird knowing that a single bite would save him at least for another day, but he looked no better, indeed he looked worse. It didn’t look as though he had any fight left in him. The place was quiet now except for the sound of the chickens, his older brothers had already departed; they didn’t want him hanging around because once he had snapped a branch frightening off a deer, since that time he’s been forced to hunt alone.
Ackley looked down at the bird in the basket. “Mother, the bird just told me that he’s not in too much pain.”
“Yes well unless he tells me you just mind what I told you.”
“Poor little fella,” said Ackley. “This is it raven; if you don’t eat this bread I’m gonna have to kill you. I know you don’t understand me but I sure wish you did.” Although the boy hoped the raven would eat he knew that life and death were part of the same equation, maybe it really was time to end the bird’s suffering, and facing life’s harsh realities were part of becoming a man he was sure, for life doesn’t suffer fools it makes fools suffer.
Berhtram opened his eyes and looked at the bread, just barely moving his head. Ackley brought the bread up and tapped his beak but there was no reaction. Ackley sighed and brought the basket over to where his mother was standing, got his axe and gave the bird one last chance as he took him out of the basket. Millicent hoped the raven would eat because lord knows they could use the luck.
Ackley placed Berhtram on the ground, giving him one last chance to eat, alas the raven seemed incapable. The boy brought the axe up over his head as his mother looked on.
TWENTY-SEVEN
CHAROX FLEW OVER THE NEW KINGDOM of the Dwagord near the base of the mountain range, watching as Daijulan brought up a complete forge out of nothing, collapsing afterward from all the energy he had used. The smell of magic had caught the dragon’s attention, hovering and watching the humans as a boy might watch a colony of ants. There was now a lot more magic in the world and he could see tiny particles of it floating around, a lot had happened during that long nap.
Nine soldiers were forcing a captive knight to march ahead of them toward a round brick building that Charox could smell even from a thousand feet up; a mixture of blood, sweat, urine and fear permeated the structure, which is why that particular building was away from the others because Kai didn’t want the stench inside his castle. The structure was made especially for torture, with chains and hooks and a forge to heat things up. A rack to stretch people until their joints separated. When the large doors swung open one of the warriors kicked the knight, knocking him inside, the others also went in, disrobed the knight and hung him upside down from his ankles.
“What do we have here?” Charox’s curiosity had been aroused and he had to see what they were going to do to that knight, probably make him scream real loud. Several shutters in a row were opened so it wouldn’t be hard to peek in, the dragon circled around getting lots of attention from the Dwagord, landing a short distance away from the building with a thud that shook the ground. They were on Charox like bees on an intruder, attacking him with swords, axes, halberds and spears.
Charox ignored the attackers as he peeked inside and as the Dwagord continued their furious attack he turned to them and said, “Yah, yah, yah, kill, kill, kill, fight, fight, fight.” Their weapons were having no effect on him whatsoever. Peeking i
n he could see that they had the knight hanging upside down and the dragon smiled at what he was seeing.
Two of the warriors were discussing what to do to the knight. “Do you want to pull out his fingernails first or cut off his fingers?”
“We could cut his ears off to start? If we rub some salt in it it’ll burn like hellfire.”
“What if we cut the nose off his face and put some salt in that?”
“All right knight, we want to know where the most powerful kingdom is in this strange land. Speak and we shall show you a merciful death.”
One of the warriors stuck his halberd into Charox’s tail and it remained there, giving the dragon an itch; he turned and launched a ball of fire, incinerating dozens of them but as he turned back toward the knight he accidentally burned the building to the ground and everyone in it. “No! See what you what you little bastards made me do! Now I’m gonna kill all of you!”
The wizard Chancailu ran toward the dragon, casting a spell as he went, shooting fiery toxic red arrows at Charox, some were deflected but others did stick in his face and one went inside his left nostril. He was prepared to expel another ball of fire when his eyes commenced to burn and suddenly everything went black. The dragon was blind, couldn’t see anything not even shadows, total blackness. He staggered around screaming, accidentally stepping on people and killing them, although he would have killed them purposely if he could see. The dragon took to the air screaming but of course couldn’t tell where the hell he was going, flying in circles for a time. It was an unpleasant feeling being so utterly frightened. What if he remained blind?
TWENTY-EIGHT
THE FUNERAL FOR THE SLAIN KNIGHTS was under a rainy sky on rolling green hills near the monastery, with just about the entire kingdom there to show their respect, including Abbey as a donkey. The ivory inlaid caskets were slowly marched under many swords that held together over their heads as the coffins passed, somber respect for the valorous men, of what had happened and what could have been, of all those lives taken much too soon. Several red dragons watched the affair from the air, impressed by the send-off.
Later that afternoon King Darius examined the severed head, their strange appearance and almond eyes not at all familiar. Stone was puzzled by the new infidels, informing his king that unfortunately there had been no sign of Berhtram. Darius was now certain that the bird was dead and there was nothing to be done about it but he was going to miss him, besides it was not time to think about a bird having lost so many of his men. But Berhtram had been a distraction from the harshness of life, even if it had only been in small pockets of time.
Stone ran down the hall chasing the donkey; he could get her to change back, at least for a little while by telling her that he missed his baby girl. And now just before she settled down to sleep at night she automatically transformed into human form and perhaps that was the beginning of the spell wearing off. He wasn’t sure what the appeal was of being a donkey but she obviously loved it, and Stone couldn’t help but laugh when the baby had changed into the donkey while in her mother’s arms, falling over with her.
King Darius sent knights to other kingdoms to warn them of the new aggressors and for them to take precautions accordingly, having no intention of letting Leeander fall to anyone, aiming to have Stone and Alexa on the throne one day. He had hoped that his first grandchild would have been a boy but it was of no consequence as he imagined there would be others and now wouldn’t trade her for anything.
It was nice having Marcus back for a few days although many weren’t happy to see him, some being shocked at the sight of him. There wasn’t a single person around now that didn’t know how dangerous he was and most everyone kept a good distance. Darius especially liked hearing about how Berhtram had brought him branches, trying to tell the boy he was a wizard of the wand, but who even knew there was such a thing. The king had commissioned a new painting of Berhtram on the king’s shoulder that would hang in his chamber.
Marcus and Darius were together in the throne room with Abbey who was eating carrots from the boy, just another reminder of his failure as a wizard so far. “Father, why are those warriors willing to kill and die for no reason?”
The king finished his wine. “They want what we have, including our very lives. A desire to kill and become triumphant is very strong in some peoples. I have often wondered what drives ruthless men, the terrible things they accomplish and are proud of. The act of taking things that don’t belong to you and being so proud of it is puzzling. If everyone would just treat one another like they want to be treated. You know Marcus, Adorok told me long ago that you would not become a knight, that you would become a wizard. I didn’t believe him but here we are.”
“How did he know?”
Darius stared at the golden knight standing next to Marcus. “Well he told me that he gets small glimpses of the future, guess I should say got small glances of the future, and he saw you casting some sort of spell.”
Marcus watched as Brother went over to the king. “I miss Adorok. It’s not the same seeing him as a ghost once in a blue moon.”
“As do I.”
The knight bent over and whispered something into king Darius’s ear and then returned to his position beside the boy. “Father, what did Brother say?”
He looked at his son and smiled. “That’s between him and me.”
“But I made him!”
“Nonetheless.”
There was a screech from outside, Ryxa was calling Marcus. It was time to jump on her back and see if they could locate the soldiers that had killed the king’s knights and would have taken or killed Marcus as well. Darius had so hoped that the rest of his life would have been without having to go to war yet again but obviously that wasn’t going to be the case. He had already given the order to forge more weapons.
“We’ll see if I can find them.” The boy commenced to run out when his father called after him.
“Marcus, do not approach these people, just because you are on the back of a dragon doesn’t mean that you are safe. Dragons are not indestructible as some believe and they may have a wizard, one that can cast a proper spell. You’re not a young child anymore, best to put your childish thoughts behind you lest you not make it into manhood. Do not underestimate them and make sure the dragon understands that as well.”
“Yes father.”
Darius sent more than a hundred knights and several carpenters to Marcus’s castle, with orders to build a watch tower to enable them to keep a better lookout for what was apparently the new enemy, perhaps some sort of terms could have been reached with these new invaders. But killing a king’s knights was a declaration of war and Darius would now have them killed them on sight. What kind of idiots attacked at will without knowing one’s enemy? Of course with a wizard in their midst maybe they did know, seemingly not as rare as they used to be, even though most kingdoms didn’t have their very own wizard but everyone wanted one.
King Darius watched as Ryxa bowed to him as a sign of respect, watched as Marcus climbed up on her back and took to the air, mighty wings pumping as they climbed higher and higher and the king thought that it must be a frightening sight from way up there. Seeing his son on the back of a dragon was a sight that he would never get used to and he wouldn’t mind going for a flight on her back if he wasn’t scared of heights. He was worried that he would never see Marcus ever again. War took many lives including wizards.
TWENTY-NINE
KING CHROMOS FLEW OVER watching the goings on, deliriously happy to see that Berhtram was going to get his fool head cut off, this would certainly be entertaining to watch. How dare he mess with a king, even if he was now a crow. How many times had he been pursued by that stupid raven? Chromos’s only hope was that one day the spell would wear off before he died because the life of a bird was an unpleasant situation for a human, one just couldn’t get accustomed to it, even after all the time that had passed the act of flying remained somewhat awkward. The crow touched down on the top of a nearby ye
w tree, its twisted and entwined branches the perfect spot to watch the execution, cawing twice and nodding to show his appreciation. He hoped his head wouldn’t come off too easily.
Ackley was less than a second from cutting Berhtram’s head off when the raven jumped because the sound of Chromos’s caw was so infuriating; he managed to walk several feet before halting. He looked up at the tree and sure enough there was that irritating crow. “Mother if he can move like that he’s not ready for the boneyard yet.”
Millicent had also observed the burst of life the raven had shown. “Try him with the bread again. He has to eat.”
Just kill the bastard Chromos cawed. Kill, kill, kill. Caw, caw, caw. He definitely didn’t like the look of what was going on down there. He should have no head by now and instead he was still breathing. He hopped down the branch continuing to caw encouragement for the kill.
Ackley placed the bread in front of Berhtram and the bird stared at it, the crow had stirred something within, the instinct of revenge. Having been animated by a wizard he was no ordinary raven, Berhtram didn’t have all the normal instincts of a simple raven, his comprehension of the king’s language was quite good. The boy watched as the raven took one bite, and then another. “He’s eating!” He dipped his hand into the water bucket and offered him a drink; the bird drank several times, and each time glanced up at the crow, as if to say I’m not dead yet you bastard.
Chromos attacked the boy, not once but twice. Ackley ran for his sling and grabbed a rock as the crow flew away he launched it, a bird in flight was an impossible shot yet he managed it, sideswiping Chromos and knocking one of his black feathers out, which slowly spiraled down to the ground. The impact had made him squawk but unfortunately the crow continued on unscathed.
THIRTY
IT WAS A HUMID SUNDAY MORNING as the king walked with Stone in the courtyard, stopping at an apple tree to talk. Nearby three precocious boys chased one another with sticks, one cried out as he received a crack on the head from the other; the good knight had just vanquished the evil one. Several women were tending to a large garden of cucumbers, lettuce and corn; Darius was known to eat a whole cucumber for lunch whenever they were available.
Knights of the Wizard (of Knights and Wizards Book 2) Page 10