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

by Gallant, A. J.

  King Kai made his way down to the dungeon to see what information his torturers had gathered from the unknown soldier they had captured in the area; he had been out hunting and wandered too close to the kingdom near the mountain range, his curiosity had cost him a lot. They had the knight from the kingdom of Newshore to the west of Leeander on a rack, had stretched him to such a degree that his tibia was pulled so far from his femur that he would never walk again. The death of one of the king’s wizards had left Kai in a foul mood, but the unconscious fellow being maimed and bloodied made him feel a little better.

  The two torturers stood with black hoods over their heads and concealed smiles beneath the frightening facades that were covered in patches of dried blood, all part of the intimidation tactics. The king took in the pungent smell and was satisfied by its aroma; very few men couldn’t be broken, either physically or mentally or both.

  “What have you learned?” asked the king.

  The tall tormentor spoke. “This is a land of 101 kingdoms and he’s from the western part. Dragons are numerous in this part of the world but they tend to their own business. They barely survived a war two years ago and so many of the kingdoms are in a weakened state, some almost completely destroyed, and apparently the conquerors have been transformed into crows.”

  Kai nodded. “Really? That sounds unpleasant. Who did the transforming?”

  “Unknown your majesty.”

  “Number of warriors per kingdom?”

  “Also unknown your majesty.”

  “What about the number of wizards in the area?” Kai stared at the fellow’s skin that was painfully and freakishly stretched and was glad that it wasn’t him.

  “He was aware of five, including a young boy that is apparently quite powerful but is unable to cast a proper spell and so we shouldn’t have to worry about him. But with Chancailu deceased we are down to a single wizard.”

  “Tell me something I don’t know.”

  “The boy wizard is apparently friendly with a dragon.” He smiled as he removed his hood, his ugly mug looked a lot better with it on, his crooked teeth almost unbelievable.

  The king paced in the dungeon as he thought. “That’s another dragon that could be big trouble. Send word to Daijulan to get that damn dragon under our control and fast.”

  “Right away your majesty.”

  Back in his throne room Kai stared at a painting of his grandfather setting fire to a village long ago, an old man that was on fire was trying to extinguish the flames and most of the dozen dwellings were either aflame or smoking.

  A black muscular messenger entered with unfortunate news. “Your majesty, a group of explorers is missing. We sent out a search party but there’s no sign of them. It is believed that they were either killed or taken prisoner your majesty. We followed their tracks for a time but heavy wind and rain has obliterated them. There are pockets of magic all across this land, some very dangerous. Or perhaps a dragon killed them.”

  King Kai considered the implications. “When the time is right we shall march en mass, more than ten thousand strong. I need Daijulan to spell that stupid dragon and get his ass back here. There is magical work to be done.”

  FORTY-SIX

  STONE MADE HIS WAY UP TO THE OPEN GEORGE TOWER where King Darius stood staring out at the landscape surrounding the castle, worried about Marcus and what would become of him. A single tear ran down his left cheek and he quickly disposed of it. How could he go on if something happened to his only son? If he hadn’t turned out to be a sorcerer he would most likely have been a knight and that would have been just as dangerous. The king wondered what had befallen Berhtram; after all this time he was certain that he’d never see him again. He expected there would be days when he experienced more than the loss of a raven but still he had to admit that he loved that bird. Darius stood adjusting his silky red cloak over his shoulders as Stone came up behind him.

  “You summoned your majesty?”

  “I want you to take some knights and go capture one of those pointy helmeted brutes.” Darius turned to face Stone. “I need one alive so we can question him. It seems that they kill everything and everyone that they come into contact with, so a confrontation with them appears inevitable. I certainly don’t understand all the indiscriminate killing.”

  “Yes your majesty.”

  “You may as well take Alexa with you because she’ll go out in search of you in any case.”

  Stone looked up into the blue sky where in the far distance two red dragons were mating. “To tell the truth sire I wish she had never become a knight. She doesn’t have to go out on any of these missions. Oh I don’t know. Are the rumors true about Marcus creating magical knights?”

  The king was troubled at perhaps having to engage in another war so soon. “Indeed. Ferocious fighters from what I hear. He makes them while he sleepwalks and then is unable to recall doing it. That boy is a riddle with no solution. I don’t know what’s ever going to become of him. We could certainly use a legion of magical knights but even Marcus doesn’t know how he conjures them.”

  “We could use a powerful wizard even more even though I don’t care for magic. I never thought I’d see the day that Marcus would become a sorcerer.” Stone certainly hoped he was going to be okay but magic was way beyond him and apparently beyond the boy as well. He liked Marcus and his spirit and hoped he would be okay.

  Darius nodded. “Stone don’t get killed. Try hard to find a small group of the enemy and bring some back alive. Don’t take unnecessary chances and always remember that your men’s lives are in your hands.”

  Stone nodded remembering some of his fallen comrades, Alonzo and Denton in particular. “Yes and Alexa’s as well. Sorry about Marcus and Berhtram your majesty.”

  The king nodded with a low grunt.

  An hour before sunrise Stone led a dozen knights including Alexa out in search of the Dwagord. Their peculiar helmets would make them readily identifiable but the problem might be to find them in small enough numbers to be able to defeat them, he had no intention of getting his wife killed on this mission but intentions were often laughed at by fate. He took his spyglass that Adorok had made and scanned the horizon, seeing nothing he turned and perused a different area, spotting what looked to be perhaps as many as a thousand of the Dwagord, and as he continued to stare Alexa knew that he had spotted something.

  “Stone, what do you see?” asked Alexa.

  “I see one direction we’re not going in. Here look.” He handed the spyglass to Lance even though Alexa had her hand out.

  Lance nodded as his horse seemed anxious. “We best get the hell of here before they decide to head this way.”

  Alexa grabbed the spyglass from Lance and had a look. “Too many unless we all kill about a hundred of them.”

  “Why didn’t I think of that,” said Merrill. “I’ll take the hundred on the left and you take the hundred on the right.”

  Alexa gave him a stern look.

  Stone started to gallop in the opposite direction and the others followed. They travelled for hours until Stone decided that it was safe to set up camp for the night, Stone then refused to let Obed start a fire for fear that they be spotted by the enemy. Stone set up his tent quite a ways from the others so that he and Alexa could get some quite time together but they ended up being quite noisy during their lovemaking.

  “Oh come on!” Merrill had shouted.

  Inside their tent Alexa and Stone had started a delicate conversation. “Alexa, you know that your father wants us to have more kids.”

  Alexa nodded. “If it was up to him he’d want me pregnant every year.”

  Stone smiled. “It’s understandable he’ll live on in all your children. We should have at least six or seven.”

  “Six or seven?”

  Before Alexa could finish Stone was called outside. Lance pointed to the horizon where a fire could be seen faintly and when Stone retrieved his spyglass from the tent he could see that it was the enemy around a large fi
re.

  “Do you think they’re following us?” said Lance.

  “Lord I hope not. They seem to have camped for the night. We’ll keep an eye on them and come morning we’ll hightail it out of here. They seem to have camped for the night.”

  As the sun rose the next morning Stone scanned the horizon and the enemy were nowhere to be seen; he thought it peculiar that they had moved during the night. He decided that they would approach the location where they had been, to see if they had left anything behind and perhaps they would be able to spot them in the distance. Upon arrival at the site they discovered the remnants of a huge campfire, lots of ashes but little else and no sign of them.

  “Look!” said Alexa. “One of them approaches.”

  It was as if the warrior had come out of thin air ridding his black stallion, a single Dwagord looking like he meant business. It took some time for him to reach them. He brought the horse to a halt in front of Stone and stared down at him. “We have you surrounded. Follow me back to my brethren and we may allow you to live.”

  Stone looked around but wasn’t able to see anyone else, thinking that they weren’t exactly surrounded if they were twenty miles away.

  Merrill put an arrow into the Dwagord’s throat, watching as he toppled to the ground and then simply vanished along with his horse. They all looked at one another puzzled.

  Lance looked at Stone. “It was a magical creation but what does it mean. How can they have us surrounded if we can’t see a single one of them?”

  “They damn well know we’re here,” said Alexa. She examined the ground where the Dwagord’s horse had stood only moments ago. “Look no tracks, must have been an enchantment.”

  Stone examined the tracks leading away from what had been a huge bonfire, heading north. Since the logical thing would be to head south he decided to head west instead, lest they had started out north and then turned south to trick them. In any case Stone now felt that they were all in danger and Leeander was a long ways away.

  FORTY-SEVEN

  MARCUS SLID OFF OF RYXA’S BACK, his face stained with tears. “She’s dead. My beautiful dragon is dead. I can’t believe it.” He hugged and kissed the black dragon’s leg. She was much too big to bury and he didn’t know what to do.

  The golden knight stared at the dragon and then at Marcus, not knowing what to do or think. He certainly didn’t like seeing Marcus so devastated. If he could bring the dragon back to life he would but unfortunately he couldn’t.

  “Oh Marcus I am so sorry.” Raina wiped several tears off of her cheek. “I didn’t think she was that sick.”

  She hugged Marcus and he returned the hug, remaining that way for a time, only time would help him through his loss. Kevin made his way over to them and hugged the both of them. Marcus couldn’t believe that he would never see those beautiful dragon eyes staring at him ever again, never hear her wonderful voice. He placed his hands on Ryxa and tried his best to conjure up some sort of healing spell but nothing happened and he couldn’t be any more disappointed in himself. He realized that it wouldn’t be good to bring the dead back to life even if such a thing was possible.

  Ash was flying high overhead, the first time that he had gone out since being attacked by the grey dragon, but a dragon’s thirst for flight is unquenchable, may as well ask a bird not to fly. He circled from the air examining the scene far below, finally deciding to touch down. “What happened?” said Ash as he landed.

  Raina felt so bad for Marcus. “She said she wasn’t feeling good and we found her like this.”

  Ash walked around Ryxa taking in her scent. “Are you sure she’s dead? She doesn’t smell dead.”

  Marcus nodded. “She’s dead her heart stopped.”

  “Her heart stopped? What about the other one?” said Ash. Everyone knew that dragons had two hearts didn’t they?

  Marcus looked puzzled. “What do you mean?”

  Ash shook his head. “All dragons have two hearts, didn’t you know that?”

  It gave Raina a little hope. “Are both hearts in the chest?”

  “No, one’s in the tail.” Ash made his way to the center of Ryxa’s tail and listened for the heartbeat. “Dragons have two hearts because we’re so big and have so much blood to pump; at least that’s what I’ve been told. This heart is still beating. Come here and listen.”

  Marcus ran over and placed his ear on her tail and sure enough he could hear Ryxa’s second heart beating and he had never heard such a wonderful sound in all his life. “She’s not dead?”

  “Not yet,” said Ash. “But she won’t last much longer with only one heart.” He looked at the golden knight. “I can feel the magical energy coming off that knight. Does he talk?”

  Raina smiled at Ash. “He doesn’t talk much. How come you’re such a small dragon?”

  “I’m not full grown yet.” Ash commenced to blink his eyes, and with each blink he was going through different spells that might possibly help, but the only thing that he was being shown was him jumping up and down on Ryxa’s chest to restart her heart. It looked peculiar but he thought it might work. “I’m gonna try to jumpstart her heart.”

  Marcus was puzzled. “What does that mean?”

  “You’ll see.” Ash pushed Ryxa so that she was more on her back and then flew up about the height of her and then flew down landing on her chest with a thump, pushing her chest in and making her heart contract. He jumped up and down on her many times and then the black dragon twitched. The little dragon listened for a heartbeat, and it beat exactly seventeen times before it stopped. “It was beating but it stopped again. I’m gonna try it again but you guys should back up because if she wakes up even a flick of her tail could kill the both of you.”

  Marcus didn’t know what to think, his hope was rapidly diminishing. If only her heart would have continued to beat. “Is she going to be okay?”

  Ash shrugged. “I don’t know yet. Wait here I have an idea.” The little dragon took to the air and flew off heading south.

  Marcus and Raina watched him go, keeping an eye on him until he was out of sight. Off and on he continued to listen to the heartbeat in Ryxa’s tail and it continued to be weak although no fainter than it had been. He went up and stroked the dragon’s face, telling her that she was going to be okay. Finally Ash returned from behind them and his sudden appearance frightened both of them.

  “Oh my goodness, look at the size of that apple!” said Raina.

  Ash had a beautiful shiny red apple that was taller than Marcus. “This is a dragon apple from the Oissi orchard and it has magical properties. It will give her a boost of health and with that hopefully the heart in her chest will start and then continue to beat.” The little dragon held the huge apple over Ryxa’s mouth and squeezed it until juice was released, dripping quite a bit of apple juice into her mouth; sparkles of red light converged in Ryxa’s chest, making Marcus hopeful once again. Ash again jumped up and down on her chest as Raina backed up pulling Marcus along with her just in case she did awake with a start.

  Ryxa stood up looking confused. “What happened?”

  Marcus ran and hugged and kissed her. “One of your hearts stopped beating.”

  “The big one or the little one?” asked Ryxa.

  Raina could see the joy in Marcus’s face. “The one in your chest.”

  Ryxa continued to feel weak but tried to hide it. “Oh my, I’m lucky to be standing here. Who is this?”

  “I’m Ash.”

  Ryxa put her nose up to Ash and smelled him. “You are a wizard I can smell it. Never met a dragon wizard before. You must be the little wizard that everyone’s talking about.”

  “Do I smell like a wizard,” said Marcus.

  “Of course,” said Raina. “You’ve always smelled like a wizard.”

  He thought about that. “I couldn’t have smelled like a wizard even before I was turned into a wizard?”

  “You were born a wizard Marcus; it’s just that your abilities have been boosted a bit prematurely.
Lots of people believe lots of different things about wizards but I know the truth.” Ryxa finished the rest of the apple and felt a little better. “I still feel a little weak so I’m going to go eat some more apples and go home to sleep. When a dragon is sick we need lots of rest.”

  Marcus nodded and gave her another hug. “Okay but come back as soon as you feel better. I’m worried about you.”

  “I know,” said Ryxa. “Ash, thank you so much for your help.”

  Ash nodded. “You’re welcome. I should probably be going too.”

  Both Dragons flew off and Marcus realized that it was time to get home and get that wand out of the tree.

  FORTY EIGHT

  CHAROX GAVE A MIGHTY HEAVE and broke more than half of his tethers, making several of the Dwagord gasp simultaneously. When he stood up he snapped the rest of them and shook the wizard off his back sending him flying, trying to snap him in two with a bite but missed. Arnald wasn’t so lucky, the dragon scooped him up and he found himself being pulverised by dragon teeth. There was panic as everyone realized what was happening.

  Daijulan commenced to work fast on a protection spell, he knew a mighty burst of fire was coming and he didn’t want to be burned alive but he also knew that he would only be able to protect himself. He created a protective blue ball as the flame burned almost everyone else, a couple of the Dwagord on the perimeter lay down and feigned being dead. Charox picked up the tiny ball and blasted it with another burst of fire but the sorcerer inside remained unscathed; he held the tiny ball up to his huge eye as he examined him.

  “There are a lot more sorcerers around these days,” Charox said to Daijulan. “Maybe I can’t kill you but let’s see how you handle my stomach juices.” He threw the sorcerer down his throat.

  It was a nightmare that Daijulan would have never imagined in a million years, being alive inside a dragon’s stomach, and although he believed his protective enchantment would hold even against those destructive juices he couldn’t be sure. What a terrible way to die if it didn’t although he supposed it would be quick though painful. It was hot in there, stomach bubbling like lava, with partial remains of a pterocrit floating by. The acrid stench was horrible; it smelled like a combination of sulphur, rotten eggs and vomit. Daijulan would have to wait until he passed through the dragon’s system, an unpleasant thought. The sorcerer noticed waves of gastric juices lapping the stomach wall as Charox took flight.