With King Darius on his throne groggily staring off into the void, a loud cheer unsettled him; it sounded like the enemy was getting excited about something. He expected to be summoned to observe the attack getting under way, but he wasn’t. A second thunderous cheer made him open his eyes wider. After about a half hour of wondering he made his way back up on the wall where he observed that nothing had changed, except that the enemy were obviously happy for some inexplicable reason. Whatever good news they had received would no doubt be bad news for Leeander. Had they somehow received news of Adorok’s death? It was more likely that they had received news from Chromos that bolstered their disposition. Perhaps another wizard was on the way?
CHAPTER FIFTY-ONE
ALEXA, STONE, OBED, MERRILL AND LANCE were more than three miles behind the enemy that had Leeander surrounded. They were so close to home, but it was impossible to get closer. The wizard was useless unless they could get him inside to the crystal so that he could power it up. The ball, once powered, would cast a huge invisible replication of itself that would surround Leeander. Not only would it not allow the enemy inside, neither would it allow any projectile fired to reach their walls. Low levels of magic remained within the sphere; however without sufficient energy, it was now useless.
Stone and the others had now been there for several days; they were wondering why the Yurrosy hadn’t yet attacked as they appeared to have everything in place. The group had agreed that once the battle commenced they would attack the enemy from behind, which of course was as good as committing suicide but, at least, they would get to kill some of them. Stone was getting tired of waiting, and with Alexa nearby it made the end that much harder to accept.
Obed quickly stood up fixing an arrow in his bow and ran with it surprising everyone. A rider on a big brown horse was bearing the king’s flag and was heading toward Leeander with the news that King Chromos would lead the battle, just in case his bird hadn’t made it through.
As the messenger came over the hill that had blocked his view of Stone and the others Obed chased after him. As the rider looked back, Obed caught him with an arrow directly into his spine, and he toppled off the horse. Obed put another arrow through his neck for good measure. The archer took the scroll out of the enemy’s pouch and noticed that it was sealed with red wax and the king’s emblem; he brought it to Stone, and they were all curious as he opened it.
Stone was surprised at what he was reading. “I will soon be on my way to lead the attack on Leeander personally. Chromos. The king is going to lead them in the battle against Leeander.”
Alexa took the parchment from Stone and read it herself. It gave her an idea though she wasn’t sure it was a good one. It was a notion was would need lots of luck to succeed but at this point, she would try just about anything. “Stone, what do you think the chances are of Chromos passing right by us?”
The thought of Stone putting his sword through Chromos’s chest was a pleasant one. “Fairly slim I imagine but certainly possible. Or he might pass a mile in that direction or miles behind us for that matter.”
“And what would happen if Merrill or Obed managed to put an arrow into Chromos and kill him? Would the attack on Leeander continue?”
Stone now imagined what the princess was thinking. “I believe the battle would be called off, and they would immediately return home to select another leader. For them the king’s word is law. There would be a lot of infighting, and it could take quite a while to pick another. It would then be up to the new king to decide. It would buy us precious time, a lot of it maybe.”
Quentin had been listening to the conversation and decided that it was time to approach Stone; he had been mulling things over for a while now. “Stone, I believe that you should let me go on my way. I agreed to help you but now all you talk about is getting yourselves killed, and I have no desire to die here. Since you are unable to get back inside Leeander, it’s obvious that you have no use for me.”
Stone had gazed at the sorcerer with a long pause before he spoke. “Quentin, we went through much to get you, and you’re not going anywhere. Your fate is ours now.”
Merrill liked the idea of attacking Chromos. If they were going to sacrifice themselves, it would certainly be more satisfying to attack the king. “This notion is far better than attacking that many soldiers until they kill us. Trying to kill Chromos is a lot better in my book. How great would it be for my arrow to take down Chromos? I can see his stupid face as the arrow enters his heart.”
Obed thought the same thing about his arrow being the one to kill Chromos but said nothing.
Alexa patted Stone on the shoulder. “Let’s dig a big hole to conceal ourselves and pray that the king gets close enough.”
CHAPTER FIFTY-TWO
“MARCUS ARE YOU OKAY?” Ryxa stared down at the boy who looked different to her, almost as if he had aged a year while he had been unconscious. She couldn’t quite put her claw on it, but there was something strange about him. Dragons could see auras and his had now changed; they changed throughout life but they never this quickly. Marcus now had the brightest gold circling in his glow. His strengths and personality had somehow increased. She smelled him, and his scent had also transformed. What was it? There was a bit of a chemical smell to him. That was certainly odd. The dragon wasn’t very good at reading glows, and so she didn’t know what to make of it.
Ashkoor looked a little puzzled as he could see magical properties within the boy; the air appeared to electrify around him. Was some spell being cast upon them or was it something else? Were waves being discharged from the boy? Had he been energized by the experience? Whitish cubes jumped off him, almost like embers popping out of a fire. Was he the only one seeing it?
Marcus walked around as they all watched him; he staggered a little. The boy blinked his eyes repeatedly, and the color of his vision changed each time he did so. Everything had a blue tint to it, then green, red, purple. He shook his head and blinked his eyes repeatedly until finally the world returned to normal. He also felt different, heavier or stronger or something. “I’m okay I think. I was seeing colors there for a second. Feel a little weird but I’m okay. I think.”
Ryxa put her face close to him, and he hugged her. “Thank goodness! I thought that you might be asleep forever. Look at me I’m a nervous wreck.”
Ashkoor was a little jealous of her apparent closeness to a human, but he wasn’t about to let them see it. He sniffed the boy and was surprised at what he discovered. “This human has been transformed into a wizard. I’d know that smell anywhere! What were you into down there boy?”
“That is absurd,” said Zak. “Wizards are born not made. I always thought that you had to be born a sorcerer. Or did wizards just make that up?”
Ashkoor took in the boy’s odour once more. “Some are born, and some are made by powerful magic. But not everyone can be made into a wizard, only a tiny percentage. Although when a wizard dies sometimes enchanted things are left behind so, I suppose? Perhaps a sorcerer perished down there leaving behind some of his essences? Or he made an enchantment to transform someone else into a wizard but died before he could accomplish it. Am I babbling?”
Marcus turned his attention to Ryxa. “I picked up this thing down there, a small round ball and I couldn’t stop it from going inside my hand. It scared the heck out of me. I thought that it was going to turn me into a snake.”
“Did you hang around a wizard a lot?” asked the purple dragon. “Sometimes the magical emanations will cling to you like invisible dust. You have to be susceptible to it of course, but it can get into your blood. That would allow you to accomplish minor magic, but this is different. It seems whatever went into you has changed you into a full blown wizard.”
Marcus was trying hard to remember his dreams. “Ryxa, I dreamt that Adorok was talking to me, and he said that I was now the wizard that Leeander needs. He also said that they are in big trouble. Usually, I forget my dreams but not this one. It was so real. I’ve never had a dream li
ke that before.”
Titus shrugged. “Well if the boy is now a wizard let’s get him the hell back to Leeander, get our gold and get this thing over with.”
Urban wasn’t so sure. “How do we know he’s a wizard? Just because that dragon says so?”
“Yeah,” said Theon. “Prove it.”
Marcus shrugged. “I don’t know any spells. Oh, wait a minute. Adorok did show me one.” He placed both his hands together, and when he opened them as a book he said, “Bird of Prey!”
A bald eagle appeared from out of his hand and flew up into a nearby tree. Ryxa clapped being so proud of what he had accomplished. Zak’s mouth hung open in disbelief. Ashkoor repeatedly pointed at the boy as if to say I told you so. Titus took a step back. Urban touched the boy to see if he felt any different and wondered if the King was going to blame them for his current condition. Theon simply shook his head. Silence followed as they all considered the implications of the boy that was now a wizard.
“Try another spell,” said Ryxa.
Marcus tried producing other animals, but not a thing happened. He did manage to produce another eagle that flew up to join the other one. It seemed that he would have to get into Adorok’s magical things back in the castle to be able to attain the information necessary to become a true wielder of magic.
Theon laughed. “The boy is full of eagles.”
Zak turned to the purple dragon. “Ashkoor, can you show us the way out of here?”
“I can but I won’t. It isn’t allowed. Unless?” Ashkoor was thinking of something that he could exchange for the information, or rather someone.
“Unless what?” said Titus. “Time is of the essence.”
“If Ryxa agreed to go on a date with me then and only then will I show you the way out.” He showed Ryxa a naughty smile as he raised his forehead in anticipation.
Ryxa scoffed at such a preposterous notion. “You have some nerve. Forget it!”
Zak nudged the boy to get him to talk some sense into her, and then he pushed him towards her.
“Please, Ryxa? Do it for me?”
She growled. Unfortunately, she knew she had to make the sacrifice. “All right but I’m only doing it for you. One date and that’s it.”
Ashkoor nodded and smiled. “And when do I get this date?”
“A month from today.”
“Make it a week?”
“Make it two weeks and that’s my final offer.”
The purple dragon took so long to respond that everyone figured he wouldn’t agree. But two weeks would give him time to think of his best line of attack. Perhaps he could even quiz the boy of her likes and dislikes. “Oh, all right two weeks. Follow me and let me do the talking.”
They ended up at the tallest door they had ever seen. Guarded by a dozen purple dragons, and none of them looked too happy at their approach. The sight of humans was immediately off-putting. The door was made from more than a hundred oak wood trees and very nice looking. “Ashkoor, where do you think you’re going with those humans?” said one of the purple dragons.
“Yeah, I hate humans!” said another, and she spat on the ground towards them. “I used to be able to spit saliva, but now it’s just fire. It’s not really spit if its fire is it?”
“Open the door and let them through.” Ashkoor judged all their expressions, which ranged from disgust to perplex, some a little of both.
“We will do no such thing!” said Wisteria as she pushed her way to the front. “You have to earn your way through these doors. A shortcut to the outside world! Oh my, that’s supposed to be a secret. See what you made me do?”
Ashkoor was starting to get aggravated. “They saved my life!” he lied, “Now let them through! They have earned their passage.”
“I’ll get the book, and we’ll just see about that!” Wisteria was determined to prove Ashkoor wrong, even though he did have seniority. The dragon didn’t want to look bad in front of the others.
Since it would take her a while to return with the book, he decided to take advantage of it. “Who has seniority here?”
“You do.”
“Then open the door or I’ll put you all on report!”
Unhappily two of them slowly swung the door open, and they all got on Ryxa’s back and flew off, the door closed quieter than it should have been able because of being surrounded by a spell.
Wisteria returned with the large black tome. “Where did everyone go?”
Ashkoor smiled. “They all decided not to mess with your authority and have moved along.”
“That settles that then.”
The other purple dragons decided to keep quiet.
CHAPTER FIFTY-THREE
ZEDOCK AND ELLA WERE INVITED TO A MEETING where they discovered both black and red dragons aplenty; they had never before seen so many dragons in one place, every available space was taken up in the cliffs. Just a little while ago the thought of the blacks and the reds getting together was unthinkable. The speaker was on top of a tall and skinny rock formation with a roundish flat top. Up there were perennial grasses, cushion plants and several large sunflowers. The area had an echo, so they had to be careful of what was said.
Sunfire was back in the den watching Ash, Cinder-Ella and Firestorm; the three little ones were playing hide-and-seek. The couple thought that it was simply a get-together to welcome the little miracle, but it didn’t turn out that way. Neither thought that having a baby wizard would bring so much attention and a lot of it unwanted. And now they were talking as if Ash was in danger.
“We must protect our little wizard,” said Aloth with determination in his voice. “The yellow dragons have never produced a wizard and will do anything to get their claws on Ash. Eons ago when the last dragon wizard was around many battles took place to save that little one from the yellows. It’s not if they will attempt to kidnap him but when. They will try hard to coerce him into their way of thinking to get at his magical gifts. That is why we must have guards around him at all times.”
Ella turned to her mate. “Zedock, did you know about this?”
“Not at all honey. All dragon wizards are before our time and to tell you the truth I thought that they were a myth. I mean I heard that we had one in the family a long time ago but how was I supposed to know it was true? Maybe we’ll all wake-up, and it’ll turn out to be just a dream.”
She showed him her angry face. “What if he’s in danger right now? We should be back there instead of here listening to this.”
Zedock shook his head. “He’s being guarded as we speak. They’re also planning on setting up a warning system so if something happens everyone will know. And why are you getting mad at me? I didn’t do anything.”
“Oh didn’t you? Who made him a wizard?” Of course, she knew those genes had come from him.
“Ella, I didn’t make him a wizard. Not on purpose. I don’t control nature.”
“Nevertheless. And he’s the spitting image of you. I’m sure you’ve noticed. You two don’t have the same color but when he’s an adult who knows.” All Ella could think about was whether the kids were in danger or not.
“Yes, he is cute isn’t he?” Zedock batted his eyelashes. “And Cinder-Ella is the spitting image of you. We’re gonna have to guard her against the drakes. It makes me sad to even think about her growing up, bonding with a dragon and flying off.”
“With everyone talking about the birth of a wizard it’s not going to take long for the yellow dragons to figure it out.”
Although it was exciting seeing all the dragons coexisting, Ella was so worried that she couldn’t concentrate on anything that was being said. “Zedock, I’m going back to the den.”
Ella opened her wings, deliberately hitting Zedock with her left one and flew off as everyone watched her take to the air. Zedock also took flight and followed her out.
“Those are the lucky parents,” someone said loud enough for all to hear.
Ella flew into her den and screamed. “Where’s Ash? Where is h
e!”
Sunfire was surprised to see her back so soon. “Relax; he’s in that side cave playing with his fire. He discovered that he could make fire rings.”
Cinder-Ella and Firestorm were wrestling in the corner; Cinder-Ella grabbed her sister by the tail and was being pulled around as they both laughed as if it was the funniest thing. They stopped and playfully snapped at one another strengthening their jaws.
The surprised look on Ella’s face said it all. “What do you mean playing with fire? You’re not telling me that he already has his fire?”
“I’m afraid so sister. Look at the end of my tail.” Sunfire’s tail was scorched. “He sneezed and the fire came out. I think all three of them are advanced. Better you than me. I wouldn’t be at all surprised if your next bunch of eggs produced another wizard. Everyone is going to be watching how you bring them up. I couldn’t take that pressure.”
Ella went into the cave where Ash was burning the cave wall and melting it and turning it to ash; he was humming as he did so. “Boy, your father picked a good name for you. Why are you doing that?”
Ash turned around and was a little surprised to see his mother back so soon; he burnt more of the wall and kicked out the ash behind him. “Mom, I got my fire and look I can melt the wall. I sneezed and burnt Sunfire’s tail. I’m gonna make lots of rooms in here to play in.”
Ella had never seen such a thing. Raising a sorcerer was going to be an adventure for all of them she thought. “Unbelievable. Ash, for goodness sake. I’ve never seen such powerful fire. You might be too advanced for your own good. Or maybe this is all normal for a wizard. I guess that’s the best way to look at it. Don’t keep going that way because you’ll end up outside. Do you understand me?”
Ash nodded. “Yeah, can I go this way then?” He pointed and waited for his mother’s response.
“You can go for miles and miles that way but don’t go too far. We don’t need a den big enough to fit a hundred dragons. Show me your fire again.”
Knights of the Dragon (of Knights and Wizards Book 1) Page 23