Hallond went to grab it, but his hand passed right through the shaft. A new look filled his eyes; confusion. Something he hadn’t felt in a long time was burning in him. He attempted to grab it again and again, but with the same results each time. The staff was nothing to him. He could not touch it. Hallond stepped back in shock. “No…this cannot be!”
Markus’ grin was blinding. “Oh, did I forget to mention that I’m now the owner of this wand? Sorry, I guess that means you cannot hold it.”
Hallond’s breath cut harshly between his teeth. Unbelievable rage boiled in his gut. “No, you can’t be a dragon. You can’t possibly possess the staff….unless…you…you...”
“Yes, I’m the descendant of Tolen the Wise. He passed the staff on to me. Which means…ELDR!” Markus thrust the staff forward and a huge fireball hit Hallond, sending the old man flying back, slamming up against the large doors of the palace. “I’m going to finish what Tolen started I…I…” Just then the sounds of rocky footsteps behind him took his attention away from destroying Hallond. He turned just in time to dodge a bolt of energy fired from the nearest golem warrior. Five more came at him and he cast a shield spell that absorbed the attacks. “WOAH! What the hell?” He used his staff to bat another energy blast away, sending it back at one of the statues, smashing its face, but not deterring it in the least.
“Wait!” Hallond got back up and held out his hands to halt the assault from the golems. “He’s mine.”
Markus turned back around with his staff in his hands like a spear. Grabbing the shaft hard, Markus sent a double bolt of electricity at Hallond.
But Hallond simply waved his hand and sent both bolts high into the sky. “You caught me off guard once, and I commend you for your brashness. But you’ll not survive long enough to hurt me again.”
Markus stepped back as Hallond approached. “You’ve lost, old man. The staff is mine, you cannot touch it.” He cast a basic energy spell at Hallond.
Hallond slapped the simplistic attack away as one might swat a fly buzzing around his face. “Oh, dear boy. Didn’t that old fool teach you anything? When a wizard dies, his wands lose their connection to him and can be taken by anyone. So, all I have to do is KILL YOU!” He thrust his hands forward. A blast of white, cold energy threw Markus across the square, flying right over the heads of the golems.
Hallond lifted his arms up and a massive gale of wind began to swim around the plaza. It carried him upward so that he might fly. His body was turning sickly pale as he was slowly destroying it by unleashing his power. But he didn’t care.
***
Markus slammed into the ground and rolled across the cobblestones until he met a solid wall. His staff flew from his hands and rolled far enough away to disappear on its own. My ribs, I think they’re broken, he thought, holding his side as he struggled to breath.
Hallond came swooping down with a greenish black energy filling his hands. “DIE!”
Markus called his staff to his hands just in time to shove the end of it into Hallond’s chest and throw him down. Markus rolled over and got to his feet as fast as he could. Swinging the staff around him, he conjured up a fire storm that flowed like a whirlpool with him in the center. Markus caught Hallond in the spiraling motions and tried to incinerate the old man as he tossed him about in the blazing currents. Each time the old wizard tried to cast any spells, Markus would slam him against the ground or tumble him around enough to break his concentration.
“I WILL NOT BE DESTROYED SO EASILY!” Markus yelled out. “ELDR STORR!” He cast a spell within a spell to make the blaze grow hotter and hotter. The roofs on several nearby buildings caught on fire as he expanded the whirling inferno.
“VATN!” Hallond’s old voice boomed with incredible resonance and an explosion of water emitted from around him and disrupted the flames. The tidal explosion crashed into Markus pressing him against a wall with the intention of squeezing the breath right out of him. The water quenched all the flames, including the burning roofs.
Markus tightly clinched his jaw together, squeezing his lips, trying to hold his breath from escaping his lungs, for if he exhaled at all, he would immediately inhale a mouthful of water and drown. His staff was being pressed up against the wall as well. It was only inches away from his hand, but he could not touch it. He tried to call it to him, but it was not invisible and too close to vanish. His ears were filling with water and his nose was dripping water down into his throat. His eyes felt like they were being shoved into his skull. He could see his staff and tried hard to get to it, but it was impossible. He watched Hallond through the blast of liquid, controlling it. Even through all this water Markus could make out a smile on his face.
He had won.
Markus tried one last thing. He gave up and closed his eyes and opened his mouth.
***
Hallond watched the boy’s head drop as his struggling ended. He had crushed the life right out of Markus’ body. He stopped the magical water deluge with a slice of his hand to the side. Thousands of gallons of liquid splashed down and ran off across the rocky streets. Markus and his staff fell to the ground too. The boy slumped over with the staff right in front of him.
Hallond lowered his hands. “Too bad, your body would have been perfect. But, that matters very little now, I have the staff.” Considering himself victorious, he strolled over to the staff to take it.
To Hallond’s surprise, Markus grabbed the staff and yelled out, “PRYMJA!”A bolt of lightning shot out and threw Hallond right through his own golems, tumbling across the street, much like Markus had moments ago.
Using the staff to get up, Markus coughed and gasped, taking in a deep breath. “Give up…’cough’….it’s over. You are too old to fight me. ‘Cough’”
“Crafty one, aren’t you,” Hallond said, with an odd amount of admiration for the sneaky counter attack.
Markus straightened with a slight smirk on his face.
Hallond threw a huge fireball at Markus. “NEVER!”
Markus used his staff to bat it out of the way, sending it slamming into a house. Before he could cast a counter spell, another fireball was thrown at him and he was forced to defend himself. Again and again Hallond continued to throw huge fireballs at him. The old man got to his feet while he blasted Markus with everything he had. Twice Markus held his staff out as if attempting to cast a counter spell, but was stopped by another incoming ball of fiery energy.
Markus kept walking backwards, creating more distance between them. Fireballs continued and Markus successfully repelled all of them. Unfortunately, they were at a stalemate.
Hallond cackled with elated evil. “Oh, you pathetic little boy. I may be old and weak, but I’m still more than a match for you. You have the Dragonwand, but you don’t know how to use it.” He continued to throw blast after blast, waiting for that moment when Markus’ strength failed him and he died on impact.
***
Markus created a white field of energy in front of him to block the fireballs. “STOVA!” he cried, in a desperate maneuver to hold Hallond off. He could do nothing else while concentrating on this shield spell. Hallond stepped up his attacks and kept blasting the shield with massive amounts of energy. The white and red fireballs soon turned into black dark energy that was even stronger. Markus projected his staff forward with the blocking spell holding off the attacks temporarily. Each time one of the black energy balls hit his shield he was edged even further back across the ground as the shield grew smaller. Finally, his heels were met by something in the road and he fell on his backside. The shield spell vanished. He almost met his end from another energy ball, but was present minded enough to bat it away with his staff. These are hotter than the fireballs, he thought.
Markus batted one after another, after another. The heat was getting so bad that a terrific sweat was running down his face and getting into his eyes. He would transform into a dragon, but it took some thought to do that and the slight delay would leave him vulnerable. All he
could think of was the last moment when he saw Crystal’s face. She would survive, that was important, but she would have to go on without him, for this was it.
Hallond cackled as he continued the attack, his body getting craggier and more dead looking. The veins under his pale skin burst forth as dark streaks of black, and the white of his eyes filled with darkness. This was no man or wizard. This was a demon.
Chapter 12: The Fall of Morris
“Would you just shut up?” Morris yelled at the bawling girl he was dragging away from the city. He took Crystal a good distance away before releasing her. He wanted her to get lost finding her way anywhere.
Crystal fought against him, struggling the entire way. The thought that Markus was getting killed back in the city was so dreadful she could not control the tears. More than once she called her wand to her hands, but with the way they were bound she would drop it quickly and it would vanish.
Morris got both of them over a hill and pushed her toward a thicket of trees. “There, trees, you dogs like the trees. I suppose you’ll do fine there.” He stopped and glared at her, raising his hand in a threatening position. “I said stop crying! I’m not going to hurt you.” He shoved her ahead of him and she fell down on her butt.
Crystal used her tied up hands to wipe the tears on her face. “I’m not afraid of you. I am afraid of what is happening to Markus.”
Morris gritted his teeth and rolled his eyes. “The boy? He’s probably dead by now.”
Crystal shook hard all over as she tried to control the urge to bawl. “Why are you doing this? The king is insane. He’s not even himself anymore. He is Hallond the Betrayer.”
Morris wore a ‘ah-ha’ look on his face as he walked toward her. “So, that is the lie you Rakki have been spreading? Hallond died! He was overtaken by the evilness of the dragon statue and was executed for trying to kill the king. But that did not satisfy you stupid dogs. You tried to overthrow the throne by spreading that malicious rumor.”
Crystal was dumbfounded. “Rumor? What? We didn’t spread anything. Can’t you see it? Why do you think he wanted the Dragonwand so badly? He means to complete a terrible spell that will turn all of the prisoners in the labyrinth into dark wizards…or something like that.”
Morris let out a laugh of disbelief. “You won’t give up, will you? The king has only the best interests in mind for Gallenor. But that doesn’t satisfy you, does it? You and your pathetic people mean to undermine the peace and order we hold dear. Fortunately for all of us, we were ready for you.”
Crystal heard massive explosions coming from the city even though she could not even see them from this side of the hill. “Can’t you hear it? That is a magical battle between Markus and the king, a king who was not a wizard before.”
“Don’t be stupid. The king has some magical statue things that Hallond left us. I’m sure that it’s just them taking care of your little boyfriend.” Morris walked away.
***
“Even if you don’t believe me, release the wizards now. The wand was found, the king has it. There is no more reason to keep them in there.” She had a plan. If he released them, Hallond couldn’t use his magic on them. Her parents and the other wizards would be saved.
Morris stopped walking and turned to her with a wicked glare. “What makes you think I’m going to release any of them?”
“What?”
“It was magic that started all of this and now that the wizards are all trapped, Gallenor is safer. I see no reason to release any of them.”
Crystal was shocked. All this time and she still wouldn’t get to see her parents. “No, you can’t. Please, let them go. My people haven’t done anything to deserve this.”
Morris scoffed. “What good would it do me to let the Rakki go? I would just have to hunt them down again.”
“What do you mean? You’re still going to imprison wizards for no reason?”
“You just don’t get it,” Morris said, laughingly. “I’m not going to hunt them down to put them in the labyrinth. I’m going to hunt them down to kill them. They’ll die and so will all of your people.”
Crystal backed away from him, scooting along the ground on her knees. “You’re mad.”
“You know something, I’m glad your little boyfriend made me give my word to not kill you. I will honor that, forever. It will be a fitting punishment for you to have to live on, and have watched every man, woman, and child of your worthless race be killed and skinned.”
She raised her hands to her mouth. “You monster.”
Morris leaned in over to her, staring at her eye to eye. “I think I’ll have the royal quarters carpeted with Rakki skin rugs when I’m crowned King of Gallenor. Perhaps you can come and visit, you know, catch up with old friends.” He laughed heartily at his depraved joke.
Crystal did something she had never done in her life. She punched him. Using both of her bound hands, she lifted them up with force and slammed him right in the jaw, sending him over onto his own rear. Then she called her wand again and held it between the ropes, pointing at him. “I’m going to kill you!”
Morris, a little stunned by the surprise attack, wiped blood from the side of his mouth. “Impressive, I didn’t think you had it in you. But, I’m sure you don’t have the killer instinct. You cannot kill me.” Standing now, he pulled out his sword and pointed it at her. “You want to fight? Go ahead, give me a reason to gut you.”
“HRINDA!” she cried out as a magical force blasted him through the air and sent him sprawling across the ground. She couldn’t bring herself to utter any of the deadly spells she had read before, but she did want to show him she wasn’t weak. A little shove would do him good. However, she had not expected it to come out so powerfully.
Morris coughed, caught his breath and reached over to grab his sword. “Oh, you little brat. I’m going to make you pay for that.” With the skill of a master warrior he got to his feet and started for her.
Crystal tried again and again to cast the spell at him, but with her hands bound the wand was not staying put and kept blasting the wrong direction. Finally, she successfully got one off. “ELDR!” She attempted to scare him with a little fire, but it only grazed his armor and did not stop his approach.
He evaded it and closed in, swinging at her with the flat side of the sword in an effort to only bruise not kill. She rolled over and dodged the incoming attack, but slipped down the hillside towards a tree. At first she was flailing, but was soon able to right herself, heading on a straight path to the tree on purpose. Her torso wrapped around the trunk, and she used it to stand while releasing a ‘yelp’ in the process.
“OH NO YOU DON’T. NO ONE BLASTS CAPTAIN MORRIS AND GETS AWAY! GET BACK HERE!” he yelled as he clumsily ran down the hill after her. His decorative armor worked against him in a foot race.
She gnawed on the ropes binding her hands and just as her fangs were making it through, she saw Morris closing in. She spun around against the tree, rolling around it like two interlocked gears. His sword banged against the tree on one side of her, then on the other. All at once she made it through the ropes and they fell to the ground, releasing her hands. Spinning around one last time, she listened for the clang of his sword against the wood and she came around the other side of the trunk with her wand right at him. “HRINDA!” The proximity of the wand to his chest made the shove spell work extra strong and he was sent flying through the air. He slammed into a tree and then landed on a rock.
Crystal watched him fall and saw that he was either dead or dazed, but she wasn’t going to wait to find out. She turned, ran, and made her way into the forest. He was right about one thing; Rakki do love trees and know how to maneuver around them. If he followed she would have the terrain advantage. “I hope this is the Thinwood.” She glanced around to see if she could determine where in the forests she was. If this was Thinwood forest, then some of her kin might be here from Red Leaf village.
“I’M NOT DONE WITH YOU, BIT
CH!!” Morris bellowed so loudly his voice echoed among the trees.
Crystal was frightened by the sound of his voice and didn’t see a large tree root projecting from the ground. She slammed face down into the dirt. Before she could get her footing again, she heard the clanking sound of the armored man after her. She got up just as the blade missed her head and stuck into a tree. Crystal looked up to find Morris hot on her trail again as he unhinged the sword blade. He attempted to slice her again, this time at an angle directed toward her shoulders. She dodged his swing just in time and the sword hit another tree and stuck in it again.
With a loud scream she didn’t consider using her wand, she just ran from the lunatic. Crystal bolted through the trees, running around them with the quickness and swiftness of a Rakki. A few times she tried to cast a spell at him, but failed miserably as the dense trees made it impossible to line up a good shot. If only Markus were here to help, he was so much better at this than I am, she thought.
***
Morris had his sights set on her. He was not going to be bested by some little pup. He had a broken arm and several cracked ribs from her foolish attack. And, in Gallenor, injuring a Royal Guard is punishable by death. At least it was now that he was this angry.
With a maniacal smile, he realized he was chasing her into a cliff. A tall, sharp, deadly cliff that would prevent her from escaping him. Now he intentionally made a lot of noise to keep her scared and not watching where she was running.
As he closed in, he heard the audible sound of Crystal screaming, but to his dismay, she didn’t fall over. She was standing at the edge holding her balance.
***
It was only by luck that Crystal hadn’t run right over the edge. She looked down to the ocean far below. In the distance was a tall waterfall that fell into an old harbor. She would have tried running in another direction, but it was too late.
Morris didn’t take long to catch up, apparent by the sound of loud footsteps breaking through the forest foliage. She had to do something. Her eyes scanned her surroundings and before she could come up with a plan, Morris emerged. He pointed his sword at her.
Legacy of Dragonwand- Book III Page 9