Drakonika (Book 1)

by Andrea Závodská

  “No one knows that, I guess. But I think that all of us have been sent here by the King, and for the same reason, whatever it is,” she said evenly, gazing into the green light.

  “All of us, except for Maren and Magnus,” Darius gibbered so quietly that Fjalldís couldn't hear it.

  “By the way, where did you learn that spell you cast in Ragna? That was really something. Did you study elsewhere before you came here?” Fjalldís said with a curious look.

  It seemed that Darius was happy to hear such praise about his magick skills, even more so when it came from Fjalldís. “No, I didn't have money for that. I don't know, it feels completely natural to me. It's almost as if it was happening on its own,” he said mildly.

  Fjalldís smiled, but Darius couldn't see it, because he was looking away. “Okay. It's done,” she said, when the green light slowly changed back to white and the wound had disappeared completely. There was no sign of the accident he had that night. “What do you think?” she asked brightly, enjoying her healing success. Their faces were still lit by the white light floating above her palm.

  Darius groped at his left arm. When he looked at it, his expression broke into amazement — there wasn't a single scratch above the bandage. He pored over his arm for a while, then turned away again as he slowly pulled the torn sleeve of his black jacket down. He was about to ask for another favour, but then he realised that Fjalldís had done enough for him already. He couldn't ask her to fix that torn sleeve as well. “Thanks,” he said a little bashfully, gazing into the darkness.

  Fjalldís didn't mind that he wasn't looking at her while saying it. It was great progress nonetheless. “My pleasure. I like to help others,” she said with a sweet smile.

  “Yeah, I noticed,” Darius said, sounding slightly guilty. In that moment he had to agree with General Xanthar — Fjalldís didn't deserve the visit at the police station. He remained silent for a while. It seemed he was hesitating to say his next words, but in the end he did. “It looks like you have learned a lot from the witch doctor,” he said casually, as if it was information that everyone knew about her. But this was something that only Aedan and Zimbadur would have known — if all the novice files were still safely hidden in the drawer on Aedan's desk.

  “W-what?” Fjalldís said in a startled tone, gaping at him. “How... how do you know that I lived with a witch doctor?” she said, sounding utterly excited and leaned closer to him, expecting a shocking answer. Obviously she thought that he had some extraordinary abilities, just like Magnus.

  “Ehm...” Darius paused, thinking frantically about what to say. She finally thought that he was cool and he certainly didn't intend to ruin it. Therefore he let out another lie. “I'm not sure... I guess I'm a seer,” he said as convincingly as possible. But he had to change the topic immediately, because he didn't have answers for any further questions of this kind. And without Viktor shuffling around, it was the best opportunity to say what was on his heart. Well, at least partly.

  “Listen... I know we didn't have the best start,” Darius said, as he finally looked at her face, but Fjalldís interrupted him.

  “You're quite right about that,” she said and gave a bitter laugh. That wasn't very encouraging, but Darius decided to continue.

  “But I'd like to apologise for that. And I think that maybe we could just... start all over again. What do you think?” he asked quickly, as though he was afraid that if he loitered, he would lose the courage to say it aloud.

  The answer to his offer was a broad smile on Fjalldís' face. “That would be nice. I am Fjalldís Fyrdóttir,” she said happily.

  At that point, Darius' confidence seemed to have risen again. He swung his arm over the back of the bench and in that moment he completely forgot about everything that Viktor had told him that night. With the words “Darius Thorsson” he returned her a benign smile.

  That was the first time she saw an honest smile on his face. A moment of silence ensued and just when Darius was about to ask Fjalldís if she would like to cook with him in the morning, a heavy breathing made them look up.

  “And I'm your Fairy Godmother,” Aedan growled, his scary face illuminated from the glowing sphere.

  After the night incident, when Aedan caught Fjalldís and Darius outside long after the lights-out, he decided to tighten up both safety measures and the study program. He had enough of misbehaving novices who didn't respect any rules and who he had to chase with his precious druid staff to study. It was time to make them advance to apprentices whose abilities and skills would get the interest of other guilds. Then he would finally be able to toss them on somebody else's neck — except those who above all else desired to become well-educated druids, of course.

  The druid expeditions in nature were almost an everyday matter. The novices had learned the basic druid spells, including herb magick and even entangling the enemy with a plant which was the spell that Darius was so good. It was then when they learned that it was actually a defensive spell and not an attack spell. Save those who entangled themselves — like Lars for example — they did quite well. Another useful spell their teacher had taught them was to temporarily turn themselves or others into an object that could be easily overlooked in the forest. But the most excited of all novices was Maren, who was overjoyed that she could finally do what she was born to do — real magick, although it turned out to be much more difficult than she thought. Magnus was strictly forbidden to train in the presence of others — you can surely guess why.

  Beside the practical part of their training, there was also the less favourite one — theory, thanks to which they had to spend several hours in their dungeon study rooms each day and sometimes they were leaving from there straight to bed. No evenings were more cruel and boring than these. But what was even worse — Aedan was doing patrols, walking outside their study rooms like a hungry wolf, which eliminated all possibilities to sneak out.

  The green robes of Mother Nature gradually changed into golden and red ones and the novices were slowly turning into suitable apprentices. Aedan was teaching them all he knew and the training was truly intense. It appeared the best way to teach them was to leave very little free time — or even better — no free time at all, because it minimised the opportunities for any riots. Many of them had the feeling they had lived in Sinei much longer than they actually did. Maren and Fjalldís were no exception.

  “One... Two... Three!” the two girls shrieked, as they radically swung the door of Magnus' room open and with merry laughter they bounded in — without any warning.

  Magnus clearly wasn't ready for something like this. Although it seemed he was all dressed up, he instantly covered himself with his blanket.

  Fjalldís and Maren exchanged confused looks, but they didn't give it any importance — everyone was already used to Magnus' strange behaviour and nobody considered it something unusual.

  Maren slumped on the bed next to him in such a way that it looked as though she jumped on a trampoline. “You missed breakfast — again,” she said in disbelief. As soon as Magnus recovered from the sudden ambush, Fjalldís took a seat by his left side.

  “Someone's in a good mood today,” Magnus said vaguely. He looked from Fjalldís to Maren who seemed to be hiding something behind her back. Then his curiosity took the better of him — he couldn't help peeking into Maren's mind to find out what she was holding, although he knew it was inappropriate. It was a letter.

  “But you've been acting kind of odd lately, almost as if you were hiding something from us,” Fjalldís said in a slightly suspicious tone. Magnus knew she was just joking, yet he broke into a sweat. Then their attention shifted to something else.

  “Wow, look at this mess,” Maren said, when she spotted a few strangely hard black scales lying on the bed. “When was the last time you cleaned this room?”

  “What is that?” Fjalldís said, looking at the scales closely.

  “Well, I...” Magnus stuttered. “I was just eating breakfast here. I can't stand so many p
eople staring at me when I'm eating. I hate the group smacking, chewing on their food. I like my privacy.” He used the moment when the girls were exchanging puzzled looks to quickly gather all the dark scales. But as he did that, he remained wrapped in the blankets up to his waist.

  “Still, the next time you eat a fish, don't bring it to your bed. It's a bit disgusting,” Maren said in a mildly reproving voice, but it seemed she was finished with this topic. There was something more important to talk about. She suddenly pulled a letter from behind her back. Magnus had already known she was holding it, but he didn't know what was written inside as no one had opened it yet — it was addressed to him.

  “It came this morning,” Fjalldís said merrily and together with Maren she watched his reaction.

  A bewildered look landed on Magnus' face as he finally took the letter. “A letter? For me? I don't understand it, who could send a letter to me?” he said, sounding utterly puzzled, but he used this moment to covertly toss the black scales behind the bed with his other hand. Although he felt relieved that he had gotten rid of them, he was opening the envelope with a shallow breath, while the girls were curiously leaning over his shoulders. “Well, let's take a look at it,” Magnus said as he broke the seal. He drew the mysterious letter out and unfolded it with his hands shaking. This was the first letter he had ever received — at least as far as he could remember — but he had no idea what it could be about. Then he started reading aloud:

  Dear Sir Magnus Il'Idiel,

  We are pleased to inform you that you have been chosen to represent Ragna in the world-wide tournament of the game of mages — Magiker, which will take place in the town of Ragna at the time of Enchanted Trees and exactly the night of Full Moons. You have a chance to win five hundred gold coins for your town and one hundred gold coins for yourself, including the Trophy for the best world-wide Magiker player. Like always, we honour the tradition — one winner takes everything. We are looking forward to your participation and your brilliant skills in playing the most favoured card game in the whole of the Aria Kingdom.

  You have been recommended by the head of the Magi Police, General Xanthar Zaleon.

  Best wishes and good luck, ITM: the Institute of Tournaments in Magiker.

  When Magnus finished reading this, he was white like chalk. He felt as if Xanthar had already finished him, or rather — he was definitely going to.

  “This guy won't quit!” he said in a horrified tone, his throat dry. But Maren and Fjalldís broke into triumphant shrieks, as though they didn't even notice the dread in his voice.

  “Magnus, that's amazing! You didn't tell us you were so good at Magiker!” Maren squealed, shaking Magnus in his bed so much he had a difficulty keeping the blankets on.

  “Yeah, about that —” Magnus begun, but the girls cut him off immediately. There was too much excitement they simply couldn't hold inside.

  Fjalldís' eyes opened wide, as though she got a ground breaking idea. “We have to buy new clothes!” she yelled brightly and bounced along with Maren. Now they were both kneeling on Magnus' bed.

  “That's a great idea! I hope we manage to buy something in Ragna before the tournament!” Maren exclaimed excitedly.

  “It should be something special,” Fjalldís went on, “We have to look pretty when the artists paint us together with Magnus and the trophy!” Seconds later, both girls started jumping on Magnus' bed merrily, as though they had completely forgotten about his presence. And if Maren didn't stop just a moment later, they would have probably trampled him.

  “Wait. How can we buy anything if we don't have money?” she said with a suddenly pale face.

  In the next moment, both girls were leaning over Magnus' shoulders again. “Magnuuus? Will you buy something for us?” Maren and Fjalldís implored together, as they fixed their big begging eyes on him from both sides.

  Magnus gave a heavy sigh. He was finally allowed to speak and he was certain that his friends wouldn't like what he had to say. “I'm sorry to disappoint you, girls. I don't have a clue how to play Magiker,” he said weakly.

  There was a moment of silence. It seemed to be a great shock for Maren and Fjalldís. Accepting the bad news was much more difficult than believing in what appeared to be news that was too good to be true.

  “But... how? And why?” Fjalldís mumbled, sounding thunderstruck.

  “I don't know. I think Xanthar wants to bring me to my knees at any cost. And to tell you the truth, he's doing quite well,” Magnus said, lowering his head.

  “We can't allow that!” Maren challenged. “You have to learn it before then. You have a great talent in magick and learning, you're the best of all the novices! You can do it!” she tried to convince him, but Magnus' expression looked quite doubtful. In the meantime, Fjalldís started counting the days until the tournament.

  “How much time do we have? The time of Enchanted Trees is right now and the Full Moon is exactly in one week!”

  Magnus' face darkened with desperation. He felt like throwing the letter into the fire of the hearth and pretending that he had never received it. “I... I'm not going,” Magnus said quietly.

  Maren shot him an unbelieving look. “What? You can't do that, it would put all of Ragna in shame! You would also lose the chance to make the town and yourself rich — six hundred gold coins! Do you even know how much that is?!” she shrieked indignantly, trying to change his mind.

  “No, I don't,” Magnus retorted in an unimpressed tone.

  “Magnus, just think about it,” Fjalldís said tentatively. “If you win, maybe Xanthar will finally leave you be.”

  “But I cannot win!” Magnus announced as he desperately flung his arms to the sides, still covered in the blanket. “Don't you understand? I know nothing more about the game than what I've just learned from this letter!”

  “Then we have a lot of work to do,” Maren said calmly.

  Magnus knew these girls wouldn't give up easily. And frankly, he was scared already.

  “We have to find someone who can play Magiker and who could teach you,” Maren decided and Fjalldís nodded in agreement.

  Magnus acted as though it was impossible. “And how am I supposed to do that? Aedan always makes a schedule for the whole day — he'll notice me missing his lessons,” he moaned. He clearly didn't feel like moving a finger for the tournament. After all, he didn't ask for it.

  “We need a plan,” Maren announced, making Magnus swallow in horror.

  The study program was truly full. The only chance to find a teacher of Magiker among the novices was the lunch break in which Aedan had given up on participating. They started where it “hurt” the least, but neither Elmar nor Lars had ever even held a card deck in their hands. Belinda said that for making one card deck, a tree had to fall. In Magnus' opinion, she was beginning to resemble Aedan a bit too much. Aurora considered card games a waste of time and they didn't have the courage to ask Serena. The same went for Maren's two other house mates, who didn't even want to reveal if they knew what cards actually were. Magnus tried a few other novices, but no one seemed to know how to play Magiker. Maren's gaze landed on the Black Squad, sitting at the very end of the table. Even now they were using the lunch break to quickly play at least one or two games with their beloved cards.

  “No... NO. No way,” Magnus said firmly, when he noticed where Maren was looking.

  “It's our last hope,” she said as she turned back to him, although she felt quite uneasy saying that.

  Fjalldís ate the last bit of her druid cake and cast the Black Squad a curious look. Maren was right — if there was anyone who could play cards, it was definitely them.

  “Darius' gang is no hope for us,” Magnus said, refusing Maren's idea flatly.

  “How do you know? I think Rodrick's not all bad. He's just... under a bad influence. Maybe he'll help you,” Maren said, when her eyes suddenly met with Rodrick's. She quickly looked away.

  “Only to my grave,” Magnus muttered.

  “Or to your victo
ry,” Maren retorted. “I'll ask him.”

  “I'll go with you,” Fjalldís said instantly and they both stood up without hesitation.

  Maren smiled. Leaving the murmuring Magnus behind, his two friends slipped around several feasting novices and stopped on the other side of the table's end. As they finally reached the Black Squad, they both seemed to hesitate, but it was too late to turn back — the boys along with Serena had already noticed them.

  The Black Squad looked up from the cards in surprise — even Serena, who didn't play, and Darius, who was lucky enough to sweep the floors with Fjalldís several times in the past few weeks. He secretly wished that she would talk to him, but the girls came to see somebody else.

  “Er... Hi, Rodrick... We'd like to talk to you. Do you have a moment?” Maren said bashfully.

  “Me...? You want to talk to... me?” Rodrick stammered in shock.

  “Does it look like we have time for you?” Viktor snapped harshly.

  “I didn't ask you anything,” Maren said valiantly, but her voice was shaking. She hoped that Magnus was watching her heroic feats.

  Fjalldís was looking at the floor all this time, but when she heard Darius' voice, she shyly raised her gaze.

  “Sure,” Darius said, his steel-blue eyes surveying Fjalldís, making her utterly nervous. “It won't hurt if we play in four for a while. Rodrick,” he said as he tilted his head in the girls' direction, giving his friend a command to leave with them. Rodrick did as he was told, but Viktor's angry breathing suggested he didn't agree at all.

  Maren and Fjalldís looked quite bewildered from the easy flow of their mission, but Magnus was even more surprised when he saw Rodrick standing right in front of him within a few minutes.

  “See? It wasn't that bad,” Maren said, grinning from ear to ear and trying to conceal the fear she felt just seconds ago.