Legacy of Dragonwand- Book III

by Daniel Peyton

  Markus sprung to action. “Not this day!” Swinging the Dragonwand, he smacked Hallond on the side of the head and sent the ancient wizard tumbling over.

  Hallond lost control of the storm and his intended hurricane was nothing more than a squall. The unexpected attack sent him face first into the cobblestone street.

  Markus slammed the end of his staff on the ground and chanted an ice spell. The water on the ground from where Hallond had tried to drown him was now slowly creeping over the old wizard and turning into a capsule to imprison him.

  In the distance, Tolen’s last dragon statue form lost all color save a deathly grey. “It’s working,” Crystal yelled at Markus, pointing. Then, amongst the magical war waging below, a large crack formed across the face of it as some of the stone fell to the ground. The seal broke.

  “ELDER STORR!” Hallond screeched, as his hands glowed red under the thick ice. The fire spell was burning his flesh, but not melting the ice.

  Markus glared at him, no longer having to chant to keep the spell going. “This is done. You’ve lost. The seal is gone!”

  “No, I...” Hallond paused and looked up. “You’re too late,” Hallond said as he smiled wickedly.

  Markus continued to concentrate on his spell, not allowing the old man to distract him.

  ***

  From beneath the layers of ice the old wizard cried out, “FHOLCAH NATOH TRINNA!”A spell in the forbidden tongue echoed across the skies. His body was now in a state of death, this final use of magic had expended what little energy he had left in his veins. But, with the terrible smile on his face he didn’t care. He had won.

  The storm’s winds and rain suddenly stopped and the sky grew to an intense darkness. It was if all the light in the world had been absorbed.

  Markus pointed the end of his staff at Hallond’s face. “Do nothing, old man, or I will turn you to ash.”

  “Can you not feel it?” Hallond asked. “It has begun. The spell is broken.”

  “You are the greatest threat to Gallenor’s future,” Markus said as the end of his staff began to glow.

  “Markus, do it,” Crystal cried.

  “Goodbye…Betrayer,” Markus said.

  Hallond laughed in the face of his own demise. “You fool. Tolen was so wise, yet he did not see this coming. Using his staff, transferring its control to you, it has weakened his seal to the point of breaking. I have won.”

  Suddenly the black sky let out all of its energy and millions of tendrils of lightning broke the heavens and joined together into a single bolt destined for one location. All the energy of the sky fell on the dragon statue and Tolen’s final form was blown apart in a huge, spectacular eruption of stone and electricity.

  “No!” Markus screamed. He looked back in horror at the decimation of the statue.

  Without any warning, the ice crust about Hallond blew apart and sent Markus to the ground. Hallond stood with the help of a new staff in his hands. It was black, with the same dragon-like appearance as all the other wands. It was the equal of Markus’ staff; the original Dragonwand of the Betrayer.

  Hallond held his staff in his hands, admiring it. “Oh, it has been so long. I have desired this feeling for centuries. Finally, to be whole again.” In an instant the old, feeble, decaying corpse of a man reversed back into a healthy looking old man with color in his skin and terrific evil in his eyes.

  ***

  Markus scooted backward away from Hallond and quickly sprung to his feet. A heavy dread filled him as he leveled his staff at Hallond. He stood and walked backwards without even thinking about it as he tried to muster up the courage to face him. “Now, we don’t have to do this. You…you can still surrender.”

  “Oh, you’ve already lost. By the way, I like your body, mind if I borrow it for a few eons?” Hallond flung his hand forward with the staff emitting a bolt of clear energy that blasted Markus across the ground, flying over the frozen bodies of the many fallen soldiers of stone.

  Crystal and Donna came alongside Markus, both wielding their own wands. Crystal tried her shove spell while Donna thrust a blast of blue fire at his face.

  Hallond deflected these attacks with the same effort he might use to swat irritating flies. “How dare you, worthless excuses of wizards. When I’m done, any half-breed wizards left will be a lost memory on the winds of time here in my new empire. I would offer to have you serve me, as a slave or something equally unimportant, but I really am looking forward to killing you.”

  Unexpectedly Markus rose and used a magic from deep in the memories inside his own Dragonwand. A bolt of white energy shot out at Hallond. Hallond responded by sending a bolt of dark energy at Markus. Both energies met and exploded in a shockwave that knocked Donna and Crystal back. Again, Markus tried to blast Hallond and the old wizard met his attack with the same force, the two exploding with shockwave after shockwave.

  “RUN!” Markus yelled at Crystal and Donna.

  Hallond threw a bolt at her from where he was standing.

  In a flash of memory, Markus recalled his dreams. The dragons that fought, the wars that he witnessed his whole life. He had learned spells in those dreams, but now he realized that he also learned how to fight as a Dragon. As if time stood still, he watched the energy leave Hallond’s wand and head straight for Crystal. His Dragonwand vanished and he opened his mouth, from it came a torrent of white flames. The energy decimated Hallonds attack, and continued on to blast Hallond himself. As Markus maintained this flood of magic flames, he stood up and his body transformed into a dragon.

  Stopping the attack, Markus looked down to see if he had actually killed Hallond. The old wizard lay on his back with his Dragonwand still beside him. All at once his hand grasped the wand firmly and it vanished. He too transformed quickly into a Dragon. As he did, he jumped up and hit Markus in the face.

  Markus grabbed him by one of his wings and threw him at a building, demolishing most of it with the throw. Hallond lifted his wings and suddenly flew up and away from Markus.

  “I still have one last trick, Tolen!” Hallond cried, circling around the capital as he grabbed ahold of the palace towers and held on with his feet. Lifting his dragon arms up he called out, “RISE MY WARRIORS, LIVE AGAIN! ORAHM KORRATH! ORAHM KORRATH! ORAHM KORRATH!” His chanting became a demonic dragon bellow. A blast of greenish black flames expelled from his mouth straight into the clouds above. The sickly green energy spread out across the storms over Thendor and turned the darkened skies into a haunting nightmare. A wave of magical energy flooded the world like a low fog over the ground.

  Markus lifted up on his own wings and looked down to see the golem army breaking free of their frozen state and standing up. Their bodies began to glow a bright red color as their souls prepared to find new homes. Markus could see the bright red glow of lost souls all across the city. The areas were the golems were trapping the citizens were joining in. Markus realized this was the spell that would steal the bodies of everyone in the Pale Labyrinth and he had to stop it somehow. Without any knowledge of dark magic he tried the only thing he could think of. He let out a roar that was filled with white energy that showered down across the square. The stone statues seemed impervious to his white magic and their soul transfer was not deterred in the least.

  “HA! You cannot stop me now!” Hallond said. “In moments I shall have an army of loyal dark wizards that will tear you apart. No one will survive! I have won! I have won! Tolen you old fool, I have beaten you at last!”

  Markus roared again, this time sending his white fire at Hallond. Hallond returned the favor with his own dark fire. Each dragon’s rage met the other and exploded outward with a huge ball of fire that continued to burn as both dragons continued bellowing.

  Without warning, a single arrow flew through the air and hit Hallond in the face, sticking him in the eye. He stopped his fire and was nearly thrown from his perch by Markus’ flame. He held a claw up to his face and screamed in a thunderous cry. “Wh
at is this?”

  Markus looked off and saw hundreds of wizards being carried by the wind, heading their way. They were using the flight spell that Markus had first tried with his wand, only without the craziness. On her knees, riding on the back of a rather large Rakki wizard, was Kiin with a bow in her hand and another arrow ready to pierce this dragon’s good eye. It could not be the wizards of Hallond’s control, they were helping Treb and Kiin. He looked down and found the golems still standing with the red glowing bodies.

  Hallond screamed, “WHAT? THIS CANNOT BE! MY PLAN!”

  “Is ruined!” Markus said, laughing.

  Hallond waved his wing at the second arrow and blew it out of its path and then he blasted a ball of black energy at Kiin’s direction.

  Markus flew at him, blasting his own ball of energy at it and destroying it before it could do any harm. “IT’S OVER HALLOND, NOW YOU DIE!” he said as he flew by. He added a punch to the face of the black dragon for good measure.

  Hallond fell from the palace and crashed to the ground. When he finally stopped moving, he transformed back into a human. Gathering himself, he got to his feet and yelled, “KILL EVERYTHING, DO NOT LET A SINGLE PERSON LIVE! RAZE GALLENOR!!” His soldiers stopped glowing and began their destructive march, demolishing everything in their path.

  Markus called out to the approaching wizards. “Stop them, they will kill all the citizens in moments.”

  Treb jumped off of his flying wizard and landed on the ground. “My pleasure!” With a good swipe of his ice blue sword he sliced the arm off of a golem soldier.

  The wizards landed amongst the golems. Markus swooped down and grabbed several of the statues and slammed them back against the ground, breaking them apart. The Rakki army on the hill pulled out their short ranged weapons and began their approach, Kellus at the lead.

  Chapter 14: Hallond’s last resort

  Hallond used his staff to take out as many of the wizards as he could. He was so furious all he could think about was killing everything. He had failed and he wouldn’t let anyone live to take joy in that. Looking up, he saw a dragon in the fight above him. He had one last opportunity. He still needed a new body and he would take out the only adversary worthy of facing him. After a final death spell cast at an old wizard woman, he transformed into a dragon and took flight with his eyes set on Markus.

  ***

  Two Rakki wizards fought side by side against the seemingly innumerable foes. One would shove a golem away while the other cast a powerful wind spell that blasted a whole right in the chest of another.

  “This is impossible. We just woke up,” the female wizard yelled over the massive wind spell her husband was casting.

  Her husband nodded, maintaining the spell. “I don’t see how….WHAT IN GALLENOR IS THAT!” He pointed to a Golden Dragon flying through the air over their heads carrying several of the Golems in its claws.

  The female stopped using her magic for a moment to stare at the unusual sight. Her husband suddenly threw her to the ground just as a volley of magical bolts nearly took her head off. The man held out his hand and called a frost spell to freeze the stones solid. The Golems took longer to freeze than expected and they marched on toward the two Rakki wizards.

  Another wizard joined them and blew two of the Golems to pieces with one shot. “ELDR STORR!” she screamed.

  Crystal ran up to them and used the powerful wand of Tolen to summon a huge wind spell that sent another three Golems flailing across the ground.

  The female stop her chanting and stared in Crystal’s direction. “Crystal! Is that you my daughter?”

  Crystal turned around with a teary smile. “Mom, Dad. Yes, it is me. ELDR!” She sent another bolt of fire at a pair of incoming red balls of energy, creating an explosion mid-air between the meeting energies.

  Shio her father, stood next to his wife Fiona with his hand held out. “Where did you get that wand?”

  Crystal smiled and beheld Markus flying overhead. “My boyfriend gave it to me. HRINDA!” She cast a shockwave through a crowd of golems pursuing an old woman wizard.

  “Boyfriend?” Shio inquired. “Another wizard?”

  Crystal waved her wand through the air and deflected a bolt of red energy. She looked at the dragon. “Yup, isn’t he magnificent?”

  Both Shio and Fiona looked again at the dragon. “You mean, he’s…that thing?”

  “Yes. The gold dragon is on our side. WATCH OUT! HRINDA!” Crystal caught a golem in the face with another bolt as it was trying to sneak up on Shio, just as he was about to say something. His eyes locked onto the sky, taking in the image of the black dragon body slamming the gold one against the roofs of several buildings. Shio jumped to cover his wife and daughter and shield them from the falling debris.

  ***

  Markus used his feet to kick Hallond off him and then took a shot at him with a mouthful of fire, but did not connect when Hallond swung his wing at the incoming attack, deflecting it back at Markus, blasting through several more areas of the capital.

  It did not take long for Markus to realize that the battle between him and Hallond could level this city in a matter of moments. No one would survive. He had to take this outside of the city, which meant leaving the golems to the wizards. But, it was a risk he had to take. “HEY, HALLOND, TRY TO CATCH ME!” He jumped into the air and flailed his wings vigorously, catching the wind, flying away at the fastest speed he could muster.

  Hallond took the bait just like Markus had hoped. His thirst to kill or possibly try to steal another body was too tempting to pass on. “I could use anybody in the streets below, but the body of another dragon wizard…well, that would mean centuries of use, not just decades. And power beyond anything I could muster through the forms of the pathetic wizards below,” Hallond screamed as he raced behind Markus.

  They flew far past the city and out toward the open plains of the western provinces. Markus was hit more than once by fire from the dragon behind him, but it was not enough to take him down. After a few more shots, he realized the pattern and was able to evade them. Unfortunately each time a ball of fire power missed, it collided with the ground like a crashing meteor, destroying huge chunks of farmlands and green pastures.

  ***

  The whole time Hallond’s dragon body was beginning to disintegrate as the magic holding him together weakened. The king’s body could not maintain this form for long. Small bits of his wings and skin were flaking off as he moved against the wind. The more he used his powers, the more his body died.

  ***

  After flying toward the setting sun for a bit, Markus saw an opening in the fields, farms, and few people; it was the Great Plains where only the long roads were built. He tilted his massive wings just enough to make a huge U-turn in the sky. Hallond threw blast after blast, each one missed Markus by only a few inches. When he completed his turn, Markus was now heading right at the old wizard.

  “LET’S SEE YOU DODGE THIS!” Hallond roared as a massive spray of electricity emptied from his hands. It spread out across the area like lava, landing on many places and leaving little room to dodge.

  How did he? Markus thought as he banked upwards in an attempt to evade the attack, but he was caught by a single bolt that shocked him pretty hard. He was dazed for a second, but came to his senses just in time to see Hallond heading right at him, full speed. Could I do that too? He wondered. It’s worth a try.

  Markus rubbed his hands together and focused his energy and thoughts as if he was using a wand. “Perhaps I too can craft a few spells,” he yelled as Hallond closed in. When Hallond got within a few feet of him, he released a defensive spell that hit the black dragon like a stone wall and sent him tumbling backwards through the air until he crashed into the ground.

  Markus seized the moment of confusion and cast another spell. This time, he formed two fire balls, one in each hand and threw them at Hallond. It was a little revenge for being blasted in the back during their brief stent i
n the capital. Hallond was met by the blasts and flew even further back across the ground this time, gouging a deep ditch in the plains. Markus kept tossing volleys of fireballs at him, determined to not let up. Little flames scorched the trail of charred soil left behind in the wake of Hallond’s fall. Each explosion continued to hit their mark against the once strong, thick skin of the black dragon. The damage was mounting up, causing more and more small patches of his decaying body to catch fire.

  Hallond, lying on his back on the ground, suddenly slapped his wings together and disrupted the next two blasts. When he opened his wings he released his own dark fire blasts, one after another in succession that were much quicker than Markus’.

  Markus tried to use his wings in the same fashion that Hallond had, but he was not quite skilled yet with fighting using enormous dragon wings. He was slammed by four fireballs in a row and thrown a good distance into the air and then crashed right through a large earth mound like it was a pile of leaves. His body smoldered with little tendrils of smoke from the attack.

  Hallond wasted no time building on this success and opened his mouth to release a wave of dark energy at Markus. This blew the poor boy across the ground and smashed him right into another knoll; this one was larger and crumbled around him. A sinkhole in the ground opened and he lost his footing, partially falling into it.

  Hallond got back up on his wings and flew toward Markus. “You foolish child, did you really think that you stood a chance against me?” He approached the crater and landed with a thud. “One last shot and then I will be able to make the transfer.”

  Markus burst out of the crater and hit Hallond in the chin with his feet, kicking the old dragon over. Markus banked left and flew back down at Hallond, prepared to plow him right into his own grave.

  Hallond barely had time to see the incoming attack but somehow was able to swipe his wing across the air and hit Markus in the face just as he was coming down. Hallond’s wing broke and part of it crumbled away. Markus went sprawling across the plains, finally coming to a stop on his side. Hallond got up on his feet and then released all he had in one final blast at the fallen gold dragon.