“The fids? I don’t . . . Oh, I see! Could it be ‘the kids’? And what about the young woman? What did she say?”
“Maybe it was kids. And where are my immuta-credits?”
“We haven’t agreed on a price yet,” Tara shot back. “Five silver creds for the map and the young woman’s discussion.”
“Done,” said the merchant, giving in. “Show me my creds.”
Tara carefully took five silver coins from her purse and showed them to the merchant, but snatched her hand back when he tried to take them.
“She talked with the same man,” he said, sighing, without taking his eyes off the money. “She seemed angry, too. It must not have been a very good day for him because as soon as somebody came into the shop, it was to bawl him out. That’s all I know. Here’s the map. Now give me my creds!”
Tara handed over the coins, which he promptly hid in the vast folds of his blackish robe.
“Good, good,” he said with a smile that revealed the stumps of three loose teeth. “What else can I give you, my young gentlewoman?
“Give me!” said Tara mockingly, as she carefully folded the map, which yelped that it had been sold for much less than it’s worth. “Your ‘gifts’ are expensive! I have what I need, thank you. Good—”
A terrible racket was heard outside, and Angelica stormed into the store. Catching sight of Tara, she rushed at her, screaming.
“You’re gonna pay! It’s because of you that I lost Kimi. I’m gonna kill you!”
She shoved Tara against the shelves, which collapsed around her in a terrible crash. The merchant started screaming like a stuck pig.
Angelica, who was stronger and heavier than Tara, slapped her with all her might. Stunned by the blow and truly enraged for the first time in her life, Tara lost control of her magic completely. Her eyes turned entirely blue and she levitated. A tornado arose out of nowhere that blew off the roof and propelled it several yards away, as passersby screamed, and sent Angelica crashing into the merchant.
Cal, Robin, and Sparrow entered the store in turn, closely followed by Deria and Master Dragosh.
Meanwhile, Tara must have decided that the tornado wasn’t frightening enough and had conjured a huge set of jaws in which the compasses, squares, machetes, knives, and lances cluttering the store become sharp, gleaming teeth snapping in threateningly.
Master Dragosh saw Tara flying right at Angelica, preceded by the voracious jaws, and quickly cast a paralyzing Pocus. The spell closed around the two combatants and immobilized them.
But Tara knew exactly how to counter the Pocus. Defying the vampyr, she visualized the mesh and got rid of it with a scornful twitch of an eyebrow. Then she drove the howling tornado toward the paralyzed Angelica, whose eyes were wide with fear. (The merchant, on the other hand, wasn’t looking at anything; he had fainted.)
Tara spoke in an icy voice she didn’t recognize as her own: “If you ever try something like that again, if you even think of raising your hand against me or one of my friends, there won’t be enough pieces of you left to fill a teaspoon!”
“That’s enough!” Deria’s voice rang out. “Stop that immediately, Tara! I’m not joking!”
Tara’s totally blue eyes turned to Deria, and for a moment the others thought their friend was going to vaporize her.
Then Tara wrinkled her nose, shook her head as if to get rid of something, and obeyed. With a gesture she stopped the howling wind and floated gently to the floor. Her eyes reverted to their usual color as the instruments rained down around her with loud bangs, clicks, and crashes.
“That’s better,” said Deria. “Now, can somebody tell me what is going on here?”
“I don’t think this is the best place to discuss it,” said Master Dragosh, nodding toward the gathering crowd and the merchant, who was slowly coming to. “Let’s transfer the children somewhere else and we’ll decide.”
Without waiting for Deria’s response, he began to recite a teleportation spell, and the air around his fingers started to glow.
“Nooooo!” screamed Deria. “I won’t let you do it!”
She raised her hands and a ray of red light blasted the vampyr, who barely had time to raise a shield. Within seconds the two spellbinders were dueling, each firing wizard fire, each sheltering behind a magic shield, then firing another ray that burned everything in its path. Half the store was already in flames.
Astonished, the friends shoved Angelica, who was still paralyzed, under the desk. The terrified merchant hid behind the few display cases still standing.
Suddenly Deria spotted an enormous cauldron hanging directly above the vampyr’s head. She said: “By Gravitus, cauldron, fall to your doom. Send this wizard to his tomb!” The cauldron fell, knocking Master Dragosh unconscious.
Before the spellbinders could react, Deria yelled: “By Transmitus help us leave this rubble, and avoid all further toil and trouble.” A ray of light shot from her hands, split, and touched Tara and everybody near her. To her horror, the vampyr had gotten to his feet behind Deria and was about to cast a spell. The young woman barely avoided it, and yelled something. For Tara, everything faded to black.
CHAPTER 14
IN THE BLOODGRAVES' LAIR
At first, it felt like the rocking of a boat and made Tara feel vaguely nauseated. I really don’t like sailing, she thought.
Then her vision cleared, and she realized that what looked like sails hanging in front of her weren’t part of a boat but canopy bed curtains. For a moment, she thought she was back at Travia Castle until she realized that the curtains were white, not blue. The room she’d woken up in looked a lot like an infirmary. It was white from floor to ceiling, and its glass-fronted cabinets contained unpleasantlooking instruments. Then she looked down at her robe and was startled to see that the last piece of the puzzle had fallen into place.
Tara thought back on everything she had heard, what she knew, and what she guessed, and she could see it all taking shape. It wasn’t a pretty picture. She had done everything in her power to get here, but she hadn’t anticipated that it would be as a prisoner, or that her friends would be caught with her.
Around her, people in other beds begin to stir, and she saw Sparrow, then Cal, Robin—and Angelica. Freed from the Pocus, the tall girl was looking around in a panic. “Where are we?” she shrieked. She was answered only with silence.
Gallant preened his feathers. Then, with Sheeba and Blondin, who were yawning, the pegasus headed off to reconnoiter the area.
To the spellbinders’ astonishment, Fabrice suddenly entered the infirmary, followed by Manitou. He rushed over to them, and Tara’s great-grandfather energetically licked her face.
“Gee, it’s good to see you!” said Fabrice. “I’ve really missed you guys! How did you get here?”
“Hey, wait a minute,” mumbled Cal, who was still half asleep. “When did you manage to get free? And where the heck are we, anyway?”
“Free?” said Fabrice frowning. “Er, no, I’m not free. You’re the ones who are—”
“—in the Bloodgraves’ fortress,” interrupted Tara.
“Son of a gun!” said a stunned Robin. “How do you know that?”
“I’ve had my suspicions for a couple of days now. There were lots of clues, but they seemed contradictory. Then what happened in the magic shop made everything clear. And look at the color of our robes. They’re still ours but they’ve been changed; now they’re gray!”
“Would you mind explaining that?” cried Sparrow. “Because I don’t get it.”
“I guess this is my fault,” said Tara, sitting down on her bed. “Even though it was perfectly obvious.”
“What was obvious?” snapped Cal.
“Master Chem and Master Dragosh weren’t the people trying to kidnap me; it was Deria. She’s behind all this. Deria was the one who alerted the Bloodgraves the day I first revealed my gift. She led them to kidnap me. Because of the Memorus, the spell that recreates past events, she couldn’t kill me hers
elf without blowing her cover, I guess. So she waited for an opportunity when she wouldn’t be suspected. She couldn’t know that the spell wasn’t working properly. When Magister attacked me on Earth, that’s why she took such a long time bringing Master Chem back from OtherWorld. And it wasn’t Master Dragosh who was prowling around our dormitory, but Deria. She didn’t realize that Manitou was with Fabrice instead of me, and kidnapped them. Finally, it was Deria who met the Bloodgrave in the magic shop. When she saw us there, she must’ve figured we’d been spying on her and cast a spell to send us here. I’ll bet she’s the one who cut a lock of my hair one night to prepare her Transmitus.”
“But what about the conversation we heard between Master Dragosh and the other wizard outside the Training Hall?”
“If you remember, Master Dragosh never said he had arranged the kidnappings, only that he thought Master Chem’s policy was stupid.”
“You know, you’re right! But Chem went into the magic shop with the Bloodgrave too.”
“Well, of course he did,” said Tara soberly. “Because it was Master Chem and his fellows—”
“—who created us, in a way,” purred a velvety voice.
The young spellbinders jumped. They hadn’t noticed the man entering the room. A mirror mask hid his face, and a rich gray robe covered his powerful body.
“What do you mean, ‘created us’?” asked Sparrow. Since learning that she could shape-shift, she had lost most of her shyness.
“That fool wanted to create an elite group, against the wishes of his fellow dragons,” said Magister with a scornful laugh. “He secretly trained a thousand of us to help him destroy the demons once and for all. But some of us became more powerful and we chose a different path, and he couldn’t bring himself to admit the truth. That’s what I find especially amusing. He doesn’t even know the identity of his worst enemies! Isn’t that terrible? Here, we’re doing exactly what he did: training the future masters of the world.”
“I want to go home!” shouted Angelica. “I have nothing to do with this girl! I’m here by mistake.”
“That’s correct,” said a voice they all knew well. “You shouldn’t have been included in the spell. But I doubt it will upset your father. We know he supports our cause.” Just then Tara noticed a familiar figure standing near Magister.
“Deria!” exclaimed Tara.
“Good morning, darling.” The young woman was smiling. She wasn’t masked, and her black and white magpie was perched on her shoulder.
Tara didn’t smile back. “Why, Deria? What does your betrayal get you?”
Deria’s face contorted with rage, losing all its beauty.
“Betrayal?” she hissed. “Who’s talking about betrayal? Your grandmother, that crazy old woman, was prepared to let your gift rot. To hide your power, when it should be on display for all to see!”
“Does that mean you aren’t the person who tried to kill me?” asked Tara very calmly.
Deria turned pale and took a step back.
“Kill you?” asked a baffled Magister. “What do you mean, kill you?”
“Ask her,” said Tara, pointing at Deria. “During my presentation in Omois, one of the apprentices lost control of his Transfer Portal, and it blew up. Someone took advantage of the raging vortex to try to get rid of me. And I suspect it was Deria.”
Magister’s mask swung toward the young woman, and she turned even paler.
“It wasn’t me, Master! I swear it!” Deria’s magpie left her shoulder and cautiously flew up to a ceiling beam. “Why would I do such a thing? I’m loyal to you. The girl is talking nonsense!”
“No, what Tara is saying is true,” said Sparrow bravely. “When she tried to close the Portal something opposed her, and she nearly died.”
“But I didn’t do it,” Deria protested as the Bloodgrave’s mask darkened. “I swear it wasn’t me, Master!”
For a moment, the mask became completely black. Deria stumbled backward in terror, realizing she might only have a few seconds to live. But Magister relaxed and his mask lightened again.
“Find out who wanted to kill her and get them,” he said sharply. “Take the Hunter with you.” By now, Deria was almost white. “Bring me the guilty party—alive, if possible. Oh, and one more thing: because you were living at Isabella’s, we didn’t want you to go through your Initiation. You were so close to her that she might have discovered that you were one of us. But I think it’s essential now. We’ll schedule your loyalty oath ceremony soon—very soon.”
The order had so shocked Deria, they thought she was going to faint, but she held on.
“Er, excuse me,” hazarded Cal, interrupting the discussion. “What do you plan to do with us, now that you’ve kidnapped us?”
“We didn’t kidnap you,” answered Magister, turning his attention from the trembling young woman. “We only wanted Tara. But I’m happy to see that Her Royal Highness has also done us the honor of a visit.”
With mock courtesy, he bowed to Sparrow. Modeling her response on Tara’s, Sparrow gave him a brief, regal nod.
“You’re all here, so you’re going to be our guests for some time. In your case, Your Highness, we’ll have to talk with your parents.”
“Meaning you’re going to ask for a ransom,” translated Cal. “I can’t say I’m surprised. But my parents don’t have any money, so I’ll ask again: What are you going to do with us?”
From Magister’s attitude, Tara sensed that he didn’t like people standing up to him. He nodded his head slightly and Cal suddenly fell down, clutching his throat and apparently unable to breathe.
Sensing his companion’s distress, Blondin flew into the room like a red streak, ready to attack. But Magister waved his hand, and the fox barked once and collapsed, unconscious.
“For starters, we’re going to teach you to respect your elders,” Magister snarled. “The old dragon clearly doesn’t know how to teach the younger generation manners. Then, when that lesson has sunk in, we’ll see what we can make of you.”
He gave another nod, releasing Cal. The boy rolled onto his side gasping, his face crimson.
“Just one more detail,” Magister said with an evil chuckle. “Don’t bother trying to use your accredi-cards to reach your masters. We disabled them.”
Disappointed, Tara bit her lip. That was exactly what she’d thought of doing.
Magister opened the door, allowing a frantic Gallant and Sheeba to race in, then left.
Before reluctantly following him, Deria gave Tara one last look.
“I had to reveal my allegiance to bring you here,” she said. “I hope you’ll understand that everything I’ve done has been for your own good.”
Tara just glared at her. The young Bloodgrave sighed, ordered her magpie back onto her shoulder, and closed the door behind her.
The moment they left, Tara’s shoulders sagged and she sighed.
Fabrice cried, “Wow! Until now I didn’t even know that it was because of Tara that I was here. I had a hunch there was a mistake because of Manitou, but I would never have suspected Deria!” “She thinks what she’s doing is for the best,” said Tara wearily.
“I’m sure she feels her choice is the right one. I’m terribly sorry to have dragged you into this whole business.”
“Don’t worry about it,” said Sparrow kindly. “We’re all together, and that’s what counts. I’m happy to be with you. I wouldn’t have wanted to let you do this on your own.”
“Me either,” said Cal, stroking Blondin, who was gradually reviving. Then he made an awkward move and yelped, “Jeez! I’m really hurting!”
“You know, Cal, you shouldn’t provoke people who are bigger and stronger than you,” observed Sparrow sarcastically. “It’s not good for your health.”
“You got that right! Next time I’m kidnapped I promise to keep my head down. Meanwhile, would somebody mind explaining the rest of why we’re here? I think I missed an episode.”
Tara smiled at him and started counting on h
er fingers.
“Episode 1: the dragons encounter spellbinders on Earth, and war breaks out. Episode 2: they’re already fighting the demons, so the dragons decide to ally themselves with the spellbinders and invite them to OtherWorld. Episode 3: together they manage to defeat the demons. Episode 4:—”
Sparrow jumped in and picked up the thread: “Episode 4: Master Chem makes a big mistake. He gives some spellbinders too much power and they turn against him. Those spellbinders misuse dragon wisdom and become the Bloodgraves. Chem meets one in the magic shop to warn him that he is ready to admit to the other dragons what he did, and set all of OtherWorld against the Bloodgraves. Right now, OtherWorld and its rulers only consider them a minor irritant. They don’t understand them or the danger they represent.”
Tara continued: “Episode 5: the demons realize it was because of the high wizard spellbinders that they were defeated. So they decide to forge an alliance with the Bloodgrave spellbinders. Thanks to the Demon King and his magic, the Bloodgraves are now preparing a plan against the dragons that will allow them to rule the universe!”
“That’s completely nuts!” exclaimed Cal. “But do we get to rule along with them?”
“Cal!” shouted Sparrow and Tara at the same time.
“Kidding!” he shouted mischievously. “Just kidding.”
“You don’t understand,” explained Tara soberly, “because you’ve never been infected by demonic magic, as I was. Did you see Deria’s reaction earlier to the Initiation? I’ll bet twenty to one that Magister has found a way to infect the apprentice spellbinders with demonic magic.”
“You think so?” asked Cal with great interest. “Is it dangerous? Because your thing with the metaphors was pretty funny.”
“Cal, it took more than a hundred wizards to cure me,” Tara said seriously. “And while I was under the demonic influence I almost killed you all a half-dozen times when you annoyed me. A few more days and you and your jokes would have been on your way to a meeting with infinity.”
“Now that’s not funny,” he admitted. “Not funny at all. So what do we do?”
Tara Duncan and the Spellbinders Page 25