by Rain Oxford
“Awesome! How can I help?”
“I have everything I need.” I dumped out thirteen rocks, a bottle of gold filings, and some dragon fire flowers. The dragon fire flowers only grew in the hottest places on Caldaca and were deep red with yellow thorns. I used the rocks to make a circle while Merlin directed me on the size and chastised me on the elliptical shape of it. Once Merlin was satisfied with that, I scattered the gold filings inside of it.
“Seriously, what are you doing?” Thaddeus asked.
“This is magic from Merlin’s world.” I then changed my staff into a sword and drew the symbol from Merlin’s memory into it. Once that was done, I set the flowers in the center. “Someone please light this.”
Thaddeus pulled his wand out of his pocket and aimed it at the flowers. A ball of fire flared from the tip and set the flowers on fire. Unlike most flowers, they didn’t just burn away; the flames turned dark blue. Without waiting for any instructions from Merlin, I plunged the sword into the ground and knelt facing south.
“I am very impressed,” Merlin praised. “Do you remember the words?”
“Some of them.” I was rather surprised that I could remember how to set up the ceremony at all.
By dragon wing and dragon claw,
my defense is without flaw.
Shrouded by dragon might,
remove me from enemy sight.
Full of rage and terrible ire,
burn my assailants with dragon fire
Dark and terrible be thy wrath,
Cennuth, protect me on my path.
“Did I do well?” I asked, pulling my sword from the ground. I felt strange, like I had done a very powerful spell…. but somehow different. I could always feel the magic inside me, as well as when it was inside my staff or wand. When my staff or wand was using my magic, it was somewhat like having a third arm. In this case, I could just feel that my magic was going somewhere.
“Exceptionally well. Now we wait.”
We waited for a long while, but the dragon didn’t show. “What did I do wrong?”
“Nothing, Ayden.”
“Is it because I didn’t use my staff?” Despite everything I had been through, my confidence was fading fast.
“It is not your fault. Dragons rarely answer a mortal’s call.”
“Then what do we do?”
“We handle this mess without him. You came up with an excellent plan; this was just insurance.”
“It’s what?”
He scoffed with amusement. “I am glad you are back to normal.”
“So, where’s the dragon?” Gideon asked.
“It looks like he’s not coming. Maybe I can conjure one again.”
“Wait until the optimum time to use it, or you will waist your energy and play your cards too early.”
“I know you’re not, but it feels like you two are talking about us behind our backs,” Gideon said.
“Warriors are so paranoid,” I said in Merlin’s mind. Out loud, I said, “My mother’s house is that way.”
“When we first met, you were struggling to be accepted. Now that you have accepted yourself, do you notice what came of it?” Merlin asked.
I glanced around at all the people who had banded together to help me and smiled. “Yes. I’m not alone anymore. I’ve got you.” He sighed. “I know what you mean. The only way for people to like me for me is to be me. I wasn’t really giving anyone a chance. Yes, most people are not going to accept me because I am a sorcerer and wizard, but I am that whether I accept it or not. I might as well make the best of it, because life is a lot less fun being one or the other.”
“Wow. You have learned more than I expected. However, we will have to talk about that later. I can sense the other Sjau.”
“All four of them?”
“I can sense six of them.”
“One must be Houda and my mother must have found the newborn Sjau.”
“Perhaps.”
“We’re close, and they’re all there,” I told the others. Evelyn made us invisible.
“We’re ready for them,” Gideon said.
Chapter 23
We reached the cabin and paused to rebuild our confidence. The power emanating from the place was too sinister to overlook. Mason patted my back, which was odd since I couldn’t see him. “You can do this. We all can.”
“How can you be sure?” I asked.
“You’re too pretty to die and we were all smart enough to side with you.”
“It’s always nice to be pretty, but it’s more important to be powerful,” said a too-familiar voice that sent shivers down my spine. I groaned just as my mother appeared before me. No matter how much power I had, she always had more.
“Your mother is close,” Merlin warned me.
“Thanks,” I told him sarcastically.
“You might as well give it up; I know you brought your friends and that they’re invisible,” my mother said.
“But you don’t know how many there are, where they are, or what they can do.”
“On the contrary, I know everything about how this will play out and how it will end.”
“How can you know?” Unless…
Zelli appeared right beside her. “Because I have seen the future,” she said. “I know every move you’re going to make.”
“Why would you do this? I helped you.”
She scoffed. “From a few lousy bandits. I could have handled them easily.”
“That’s not the point. I trusted you, just like I trusted Sven.”
“Yes, you’re an idiot. Are you going to cry about it?”
I ignored her question. “I’m not an idiot. I trusted you and Sven, and even though you both betrayed me, I’m still going to trust all of the other Sjau until they betray me, for the same reason I trusted you. There are numerous wizards and sorcerers on Caldaca. Every great land has a famous seer, every large city has a mage, every kingdom has a magician, and every town has closed up their shops early once because a necromancer was passing through. There are even at least a hundred elementalists in the world.”
“So what?”
“There are only fourteen of us. How can I not give every Sjau the benefit of the doubt when we are and always will be the rarest of any class of magic users? There will never be more or less than fourteen of us.”
She frowned as I said this. “We’re not special; we’re just freaks,” she argued.
My mother flicked her wand and a thick sheet of black fog blanketed the ground up to my waist. This made it pretty obvious how many people were with me, as there were fourteen spots empty of smoke. “Just as you predicted; he brought extra,” Ilvera said to Zelli. At that point, Sven, Sotis, and Kalyn appeared, and the invisibility over my allies faded. “And, Thaddeus, take off that terrible disguise.”
The illusion over Thaddeus disappeared. Thaddeus looked sick to his stomach, but my mother didn’t seem to care that he was there in the least. That was actually a major insult, as if he just didn’t matter to her at all.
“We’re only here to save Houda, not defeat you,” I told my mother.
Her grin was downright evil. “Oh, is that all you want? Then by all means, take her.”
Houda appeared beside her. Her clothes were torn, bloody, and dirty and there were tear stains on her cheeks. My mother then pointed her wand at me and my body froze completely. I couldn’t even open my mouth.
“You wanted to save her, but I don’t think she wants to go with you. Do you, Houda?”
The magician shook her head desperately. I wanted to ask my mother what she did to her.
“Well, I think that’s perfectly clear, don’t you, Ayden?” I couldn’t move, so she sighed dramatically. “I don’t think that’s enough for him, Houda.” A dagger appeared in her hand. “Why don’t you prove your loyalty to me?”
Houda sniffled, trying not to cry, and shook her head again.
Ilvera’s eyes narrowed. “Don’t make me tell you again.” She made another motion with her h
ands and a baby appeared, wrapped up in a dirty white bed sheet.
“Houda has a baby?!”
“She was pregnant when she found us and hiding it with magic.”
“That was her big secret?”
“Part of it. I believe the father is one of the princes, which is why she had to get out of there before the baby’s birth.”
“How long do you think the little one can last in a pit of snakes?” Ilvera asked.
I felt my mother’s power crack under my own desperation. “Mother, stop!” I shouted.
Her eyes widened. “Impressive… but not enough to stop me. I can use the baby as long as Houda obeys, but if she refuses me again, I’ll kill her and the baby.”
“Don’t hurt him. Please don’t hurt him,” Houda cried.
“Then do as I say.”
Houda took the knife and approached me. Although I could talk, I still couldn’t move. Merlin growled. “She doesn’t have a choice,” I told him. “Do you really think she’s going to let your baby live even if you kill me?”
“I don’t, but I have to try.”
“I know.” She aimed the dagger at my heart. “That’s not a worthless infant,” I said loudly.
“Stop,” my mother demanded. Houda did. “What are you talking about?”
“That’s a royal child. If you kill him, he’s worthless. Alive, he’s worth a lot of gold.”
“Now she’ll never give him back!” Houda cried.
“Would you rather him be sold to his father or killed?”
My mother smirked. “I could almost be proud, Ayden. Not only would you suggest I separate a newborn from his mother, but also that I sell him. It’s too late to save you, though. Houda, kill him.”
She aimed the dagger at my heart again and struck. An instant before the dagger cut into me, my mother flicked her wand. Houda’s hand stopped with the blade almost piercing me.
“That’s enough,” my mother said kindly. “I need him alive; I only wanted to be sure you would do it.”
“You’re not going to kill my baby?” Houda asked, dropping the dagger.
“I was going to, but now I think selling him would be better, so long as he isn’t more of a problem than he’s worth.” She held out the baby like it was something disgusting and Houda rushed forth to take him from her. She was crying with relief now.
“I’ve grown tired of talking. It’s now time to do what we’ve come here to do.”
“We can finally kill them?” Sven asked.
She just laughed cruelly, causing Sotis and Kalyn to frown worriedly. Zelli didn’t look confused. “Now that I have the Sjau together, I can take all of your magic at once.”
“You what?!” Kalyn screeched.
“Your plan was to kill all of us all along?” Sven asked.
“Yes. Instead of going through all the work to gather you together, I made sure Ayden’s seer friend would overhear part of my plan. Ayden got everyone together for me.”
Not one for wasting words, my mother aimed her wand at me. Even though I had known it was coming, I wasn’t prepared for the pain I felt as what looked like lightning leapt from my mother’s wand into me. It spread from me to my aunt, connecting us with blinding energy. The pain so crippling that I missed it spreading to all of the other Sjau until it was already starting to break up. When it finally dissolved, the pain faded very slowly. All of the Sjau were on the ground. Thaddeus helped Mason up.
“Why didn’t that work?!” my mother asked to no one in particular.
I rolled my eyes, trying to hide how much pain I was still in. “Oh, mother, even you can count to fourteen.”
She narrowed her eyes with anger. “What did you say?”
“I said count again. You don’t have all fourteen of us and you just told your loyal followers that you planned to kill them.”
She rounded on Zelli. “You said they would all be here!”
She shrugged. “I saw so many of Ayden’s allies. I must have miscounted.” She didn’t look apologetic or even worried about the fact that she was angering my mother. Traitor or not, she was a brave little girl.
Sotis, one of the first of us to recover, grabbed Kalyn and pressed a knife to her throat. Her expression was angry rather than afraid. “You can’t take our power if one of us dies!” he said.
I was about to point out that if one of us died, another would be born, but Jeb reacted before I could. Jeb pointed one of his magic rings at Sotis instead of a wand, and the dagger went flying. At that point, Thaddeus tried to curse Sven, but Sven dodged it.
Then Sotis waved his wand and black magic burst out of it. Rita put up a ward over all of them. In the next instant, it broke out into a full battle. I turned to my mother. I knew she couldn’t kill me, but there were many curses that were worse than death.
I threw a shield over myself and Merlin and focused my power. My galaxy stone began pulsing with a deep blue glow. “Wait, Ayden. Not yet.”
“Do you think you can do your magic through me again?”
“I would rather not,” he said.
“I’m not afraid of it anymore,” I lied. “You have knowledge and skill that I won’t for hundreds of years. If I can help you use it, it’s worth it.”
“I do not even understand how I did it in the first place, so I cannot be sure I can do it again.”
At that point, my mother struck my ward with a curse, but it was at an odd angle, so it glanced off. Despite that, it was still powerful enough to shatter my ward. We needed a dragon’s help.
Merlin and I were facing my mother, so we didn’t see Sotis sneaking up behind us until he grabbed me by my hair and put a dagger to my throat. “You need Ayden to take my power! So if I kill him, you can’t do anything!”
Everyone else was too concerned with their own fighting to notice us. Mother looked like she was considering what Sotis said for a moment, and then she smirked. “Wrong again. If Ayden dies, I can get your power using my sister.”
Merlin said something that I was pretty sure I wasn’t meant to hear.
I ignored him, because something really odd was happening. I had been in this hold before and knew how to get out of it, but I couldn’t seem to bring my body to move. My galaxy stone was glowing blue again, and the same tranquility that I felt the first time I faced Veronica came back to me. It wasn’t arrogance or confidence, but all my panic and concern faded away. I didn’t doubt that I would get out of the situation.
My magic started flowing through me, growing warmer as it did. Before I even realized what was happening, a new presence came over me. “Mein.” Although I said the word quietly, calmly, the power behind that word was anything but.
Sotis screamed and dropped the knife. I turned to see him on the ground, clutching his head in pain. “Ayden, how did you do that?” Merlin asked.
I ignored him and turned back to my mother. I was… sort of in control, but it was like I was borrowing a completely different body from someone else. I didn’t feel like me at all. Of course, I didn’t care; I was completely calm. “Dómr.” She looked confused for just a moment before she vanished. I said something a lot longer after that, but I couldn’t remember the exact words.
My staff pulsed with a deep blue glow and everyone instantly stopped fighting and turned to me. Sotis even stopped screaming. It was utterly silent…
And then the strange presence left me, and I suddenly felt like I hadn’t slept for a month. Merlin attempted to catch me when I fell, but I didn’t even try to steady myself. “What happened?” I asked him. My body was shaking.
“Your galaxy stone seems to have a new power; I believe you were temporarily given dragon magic.”
“But I didn’t use fire.”
He laughed. “There is much more to dragons than fire.”
Thaddeus helped me up. “Did you kill her?” he asked.
Everyone was listening carefully to the answer, except for Sotis who had passed out. “No. I’m not sure what I did to her, but I didn’t kill her.”
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br /> “We’ll get her next time.”
“No, you won’t,” my mother said, appearing in the same spot she had disappeared from. Only now, her clothes were smoking and her hair was a mess. It looked like she had been through a terrible war and barely made it out alive. “I don’t know how you got that power, but it’s going to be mine very soon,” she threatened through clenched teeth.
I shuddered violently. Although my mother had always been cruel and conniving, there was something different in her eyes. For the first time, she looked a little deranged. “What happened to you?” I asked. She hadn’t been gone long enough to fight anyone.
“You may have broken my curse, but it would never have worked at all if there wasn’t already darkness inside you.”
I rolled my eyes. “Yes, I already knew that.” She frowned. “I figured that out when I faced Veronica. I have light and dark magic, and I need both to be the person I am. All your curse did was try to unbalance me, and that’s why I had to break it. Sure, I could have been more obsessed with power if I was a sorcerer like my brothers, but I don’t have less power than them. I can do things they can’t. Even that’s not the reason you’ll never beat me.”
“You think you can defeat me?”
“I didn’t say that. I only said that you can’t beat me.”
“And why is that?”
“Because I have something my brothers didn’t. I have something you don’t; I have friends.”
In anger, she pointed her wand at me. I knew I had pushed her too far. She wasn’t going to kill me because then she couldn’t use me at all, but there were a lot of things she could do, such as a sleeping curse or turning me to stone.
I felt Merlin start to move and waved my staff on instinct. A ward over myself wouldn’t have been powerful enough to stop my mother, especially when I had no time to do it right. Instead, I pointed my staff at Merlin. “Stop!”
At that instant, three unexpected things happened; Merlin froze, my mother’s curse fizzled out right before reaching me, and my father appeared next to her. “That’s enough playing around,” he said sternly.
Almost everyone lowered their heads, at least slightly.