Valezar gave a small sigh. “We have known each other for so long, and yet all you say every time we meet is merely: what do you want here.” As he said that, he thought could hear Xanthar's teeth creak. “I am here to set things right. Our young lad here, Magnus, did cast two spells here just a moment ago. But, correct me if I am wrong; I have heard that you punish novices for casting spells by giving them black points in their files. Would you be so unjust as to punish the others by merely giving them a black point, while you would arrest this boy for casting two simple spells?” He said evenly and fastened his gaze on the general.
Although it was quite dark, everyone could see the colour drenching from Xanthar's face. How did this outcast of the mages guild learn that he gave black points to two of Aedan's novices? The kids had heard it now, Zimbadur heard it, and probably some of his policemen outside heard it; the whole town would learn shortly that the terrifying general of magi police punishes children for spell casting by giving them silly black points that even school kids receive from their teachers at class! How could Valezar say it aloud in front of all these people? The nerve of him! Besides, just as the black points matter would spread all over the town, people would learn about his injustice if he did arrest Magnus for casting those spells. Valezar was a calm and silent old man, but also a cunning and witty old mage.
Xanthar took a deep breath and closed his eyes as he uttered the following words. “All right. He gets... two black points,” he fizzled through his teeth clenched tight, as he always did when he was angry, but cornered. Saying this, he immediately departed out to the square, walking by Zimbadur and Valezar without giving them a single look.
As Magnus breathed out, he swayed, as if a heavy rock had been cut loose from his heart. His friends had to support him from both sides so that he would not fall down. He muttered something under his nose, what Maren thought was “thank heavens for Valezar”.
Zimbadur could not help letting out a tart comment and giving a good laugh. “Oh my goodness, Xanthar... do you really punish children by writing black marks to their files?” He scoffed, but heard no answer.
“Xanthar... I think you are forgetting something...” Valezar said calmly, but his voice carried to the general's ears quite clearly, because they made him stop.
“WHAT?” He growled glumly, the gazes of his policemen fixed on him as they awaited his command.
Valezar and Zimbadur came closer, and in a short while, Xanthar had found himself between the two men that he probably hated the most from the whole town. “By casting those two spells, Magnus has released Ragna from the haunting of dopplegangers. He is a hero.” Valezar said, audibly enough for everyone around to hear him.
Those words screeched annoyingly in Xanthar's ears. The criminal he was after had suddenly become- what... a HERO?!
“You know what you should do now, don't you?” Zimbadur said pointedly, tilting his black obsidian staff closer to Xanthar's face, as though he wanted to revive his memory.
Xanthar gave him a deadly hateful look. But such were the rules; courageous and strong men were always hard to find, therefore a new hero should always be announced and presented to the whole town, no matter what the time was. And shortly, a few of his policemen were roaming the streets on horses, announcing Magnus' great victory. “Hear ye, hear ye! Magnus Il'idiel had defeated the Ragnan monsters! No longer we have to be afraid of the nights! Hear ye, hear ye! Magnus is our hero!” They shouted, their horse's galloping clacking on the pavement.
It took only a few minutes and window after window flew open, people curiously peeking out of their candlelit homes. What they heard appeared to be true; there were no monsters outside, only horsemen, two mages and five children walking the streets undauntedly. As a few curious citizens came out of their houses, more and more had joined them. Shortly, They all marched together, dressed only in their night robes and despite the cold air, they were chortling happily in the moonlight, praising and calling Magnus' name over and over again.
Although Magnus had heard it at least a couple hundred times that evening, he still could not believe he was a hero. A hero just like from the stories and fairy tales told from generation to generation, except for one thing; he was real.
Maren felt happier than ever before. She had never walk the Ragnan streets at night knowing that no monsters would attack her. She kept looking around to see her friends smiling, took Magnus and Lars by hand, who took Fjalldís and Elmar by hand, and they were marching up the lanes together, accompanied by Zimbadur who carried the black tome and Valezar who was flooded with such cheer and joy he had not feel for long years.
Suddenly, Maren froze, looking dazed, which made her friends to stop as well and see where she was gazing. The others had no idea, but Magnus knew... as soon as he caught sight of a fair woman around her thirties, dressed in cheap but clean long dress with a wide black skirt, walking straight towards them; he knew... It was Mrs Samai, Maren's mother.
In less than five seconds, Mrs Samai crouched down and Maren dashed into her embrace. Magnus could see tears rolling down her mother's face and, was very surprised to see her smile broadly, as he was expecting some grumpy chiding and detention from her.
“Mum, Magnus has defeated the Ragnan monsters... all alone!” Maren said in an ecstatic tone, when she looked into her mother's wet face.
Mrs Samai cast Magnus an indifferent glance and reached her hand forwards to imply he should come closer.
Magnus looked around at his friends, looking slightly scared, then together with Fjalldís, Lars and Elmar he bashfully made a few steps forward. As soon as they reached Maren and her mother, Mrs Samai outstretched her arms and embraced all five of them as though they were her own children and started kissing them into the hair, smiling happily again. “I'm so proud of you, kids!” She said through her tears, but then she gave them a sudden rigid look. “But you do realize it was very dangerous, I hope...?” And she smiled again.
Magnus could not believe it was the same person he had met on his first days in Ragna. It seemed that nobody could resist the mirth and joy of this event, except for Xanthar, who was observing them spitefully from distance.
None of the five novices had ever received so much love in such a short time. Namely for Magnus, Fjalldís, Elmar and Lars, who never knew their real parents, it felt that way.
“Eh-ehm...” Valezar gave a slight cough to remind them of his presence, while people of all ages were passing by, smiling at Magnus and laughing with cheer, some of them dancing in the cool night air or watching the stars above them in awe.
“Oh... Sorry... Mum, this is Valezar...” Maren said, and at these words her mother stood up to shake hands with the old mage with an extremely long white beard. Apparently, his mage background did not seem to be a problem at this wonderful night; not even to Maren's mum. “He is a good friend of ours.”
“I am very pleased to meet you, sir Valezar.” Said Mrs Samai delightedly.
“The pleasure is mine,” said Valezar, smiling at her and shaking her hand with such vigour that Magnus had never seen him move his arm so fast.
“And this is Zimbadur, the guild master of the mages guild, he is our friend as well...-” said Maren's voice again. She opened her mouth to introduce her mother to Zim as well, but there was no need; they were already shaking hands; and they enjoyed it quite a bit, as it seemed.
“I am... Mrs Samai, Maren's mother... I am... pleased to make your acquaintance...” She said a little shyly, and Magnus could see her face turning red.
Zimbadur gave her a charming smile. “Pleased to make your acquaintance, my lady...” He said courteously and raised her hand slightly to kiss her, giving a small bow and gazing mysteriously into her face from below the flood of his raven black hair. Mrs Samai darted her eyes downwards.
Maren let out a giggle, while Elmar and Lars had no idea what he was doing. They had never seen anyone greeting another person like that. For a moment there, they felt like aliens on a distant planet.
&
nbsp; Seeing Zimbadur kissing Mrs Samai's hand reminded Fjalldís of Reinhart kissing hers before the Magiker tournament, and that reminded her of Darius, who was taken away the very same night. She looked back on the watch tower of magi police in distance; considering that Xanthar had been with them all this time, she reckoned Darius was watching others dancing in the streets merrily from one of the tower's windows... all alone.
Magnus tugged on Valezar's wide sleeve when he realized that his white hair had been exposed since he appeared in the clock tower's entrance. “Valezar, where's your hat?” He whispered curiously.
Valezar leaned to him, hoping his back would not cause any problems. “Hm...? Oh...” He said, seemingly thinking, then understanding the question finally. “I think I must have left it somewhere,” he smiled through his beard, sweeping dust from his lightly burned robe.
Magnus felt slightly puzzled, but he didn't find any words to contradict that. Although, somewhere in the back of his mind, he knew that Valezar was keeping secrets; again.
The celebrations continued all next day. Very few people were working; most of them were spending time with their families and friends. To Xanthar's fury, this day had also become a Ragnan holiday, as so many citizens requested it. And Magnus was spending it like most of them; with his friends, who were also his family.
To Magnus' astonishment, he was allowed to stay with Maren and her mother overnight, although it was hard to keep his cloak on all the time. He had to make up a lot of excuses and stories that would reason his clothes. Mr. Samai seemed to finally accept him as a good and pious boy, because she spent the evening by playing board games with them and talking about every detail that she had observed in Ragna while Maren was gone. There was a little stressful issue about the school in the nature”, for which Maren had to make up more lies. During the whole evening, not a single word about her father was spoken, though.
Fjalldís, Elmar and Lars had spent the night in Valezar's windowless house. All five novices along with Zimbadur had met up in Valezar's home the following afternoon. When Magnus and Maren came in, their friends were already sitting at the table, chewing on the tasty gingerbread from Valezar. They could hear insolent screeching every now and then. Zimbadur was leaning to the cupboards by the wall, drinking tea.
“It is a pleasure to greet you all here in my house,” Valezar said, as Magnus and Maren joined their friends at the table.
Magnus wondered why had Zimbadur come as well, but his question was answered shortly.
“I have taken the book back into the guild library,” said Zim, gazing into the cup of tea, then looked up and fixed his eyes on Magnus. “I think it will be safer if we just leave it there. And you should hide that key - and hide it well... I am sure Xanthar knew it was something special and if he finds out it had disappeared from his office and you have it,” he stressed, “he will think you have stolen it. And there is no black point that could save you from the punishment of robbery.” He said, sounding a bit more seriously than usual.
Magnus and his friends fell silent, looking at each other wordlessly.
“The boy who stole it is gone and there is no evidence that it was not you who took it. Do you understand?” Zimbadur said insistingly.
“Y-yes... I understand... I'll hide it...” Magnus said a little uncertainly, as he had never heard Zimbadur talking in such tone.
Zim's face cleared. “Good...” He smiled, then went on with his tea. “I will keep the book out of sight.”
Valezar nodded in agreement. “Zimbadur is right. There have been enough oddities about you already, and you better keep your dragon origin in secrecy. I am afraid that would set off a real avalanche upon your head.” He said in a concerned voice.
Magnus remained silent, and so did the others; but then, a green winged lizard with long tail had had emerged at the table's end by the wall, stretching among the plates of gingerbread and cups of tea on the table. “Did someone utter the word dragon?” He said and yawned contentedly.
Magnus froze. “Doppleganger!” He shrieked, but was stopped before he could grab the dragon's neck.
“No, Magnus, he is not a doppleganger... he is a real dragon.” Valezar said calmly.
There was a moment of silence again. Now that Magnus came to think of it, Valezar's word made sense. Why would one of the dopplegangers stay while all others had left? But he could not help saying one thing...
Magnus fastened a suspicious gaze on Valezar. “And how do I know that you are not a doppleganger? You seem like one to me...” He said, a note of amusement in his voice.
The dragon flinched away from Magnus.
Valezar's eyes bulged strictly, then suddenly he clapped his hands and they found themselves in total darkness. All candles had been extinguished.
Lars and Elmar gave a terrified yelp.
“All right, all right! We get it!” Magnus said swiftly; he hated being in Valezar's home in darkness. “Now could you please put the lights back on?”
“But of course...” said Valezar, and by a snap of his fingers, all candles in the room were lit again. He was smiling.
Maren was swinging her legs so wildly she kicked Magnus under the table.
“Ouch!” He moaned.
It appeared Maren did not even notice what happened, or she had done it deliberately and merely pretended her ignorance. “Do you think Victor is a dragon as well?” She said curiously, and their little dragon acquaintance on the table shuddered as he heard the name.
“Well...” Magnus started, then paused when he saw everyone looking at him. “Well I... I'm not sure. But I don't think so. I don't think he was as strong and powerful as he pretended to be... Moreover, I think his powers, or at least some of them, flew from a ring he wore on one of his fingers.” He said, then turned on Valezar. “What do you think, Valezar?”
“I am happy you consider my word important. His mind was protected from reading, but his power did stem from that ring on his hand. Good observation, Magnus.” Valezar said, then gave him a wordless look which suggested he knew that Magnus was keeping something from them. And he knew exactly what...
Magnus was acting happy and light-hearted, but his mind was buzzing. The words that Victor uttered before he vanished from sight kept lying in his heart like a heavy boulder. He was only hoping that one day he would forget them just as he had forgotten everything from his past.
“But then, you obviously can't be brothers,” Maren said doubtfully. “I mean, you're a dragon, he's not... it's logical you can't have one father.”
Valezar smiled. “You have a very smart girlfriend, Magnus.”
Everyone in the room could understand that Magnus' blood pressure was rising rapidly. “I've told you already, she's not my girlfriend!” He barked angrily. But that only made Valezar laugh more. And Maren's smile vanished instantly.
“So, it seems like this so-called father of yours used dopplegangers to make dragons look like bloodthirsty monsters in the eyes of humans.” Zimbadur interjected. “There must be a big plot behind all this. Something that we haven't seen yet... and we hope to never see, of course.”
Save the last Victor's words that Magnus didn't want to bring up now, Valezar knew there was another important thing he hadn't mentioned.
“Well, I wouldn't be so sure about that, Zimbadur. He can operate in this world through an artefact, a crystal ball. And now it's in the keeping of the police.”
That made everyone in the room fall silent. “Could it be that the warlock is still able to bring more evil into this world?” Maren asked through trembling lips.
“I never meant to scare you, dear Maren... but the answer is yes. As long as the globe is whole, there is a possibility something bad might happen in the future. Let's just hope it won't.”
Magnus heard Elmar and Lars gulp.
“Valezar, did you really play with those things? I mean the gates... did you try to open them?” Magnus asked, now sounding a bit concerned.
“If anything, I tried to find out w
hat they were and if there was any possible threat coming from there. But, Solas used it against me, because he wanted me sacked from the Mages Guild. So he came up with a little good-night story for the king.” Valezar said, and to Magnus' astonishment, he was smiling again.
But he felt sorry there was no evidence that could allow Valezar to re-join the Mages Guild. That was so unjust!
The talk about Viktor, dopplegangers, the evil warlock and Magnus himself took another hour, until finally somebody had changed the subject.
“And what will you do now?” Fjalldís asked abruptly, stroking the dragon's snout gently.
“I... I don't know.” Magnus said and gave a small sigh. “I mean... what can I do? I still look like a... a... a mutant,” he said finally, when he heard his tail slithering on the floor. He couldn't stop moving it. This was one of the few occasions when he didn't have to hold it under the cloak, which was art itself, given how difficult and straining it was.
“Why don't you just stay in the guild with us?” Elmar said, another gingerbread crunching under his teeth.
“Are you kidding?? Aedan will kill me when he sees me!” Magnus breathed indignantly.
As an answer to that, a stocky, tall druid entered the room from the side-doors. His great mane and long wooden staff in his hand were unmistakable. “I don't think so,” Aedan said, and to Magnus' astonishment, he was smiling. “As long as you don't earn a third black point from Xanthar, which would sack you out of my guild, I'll be honoured to have you among us.”
Maren looked as dazed as Magnus.
“How... how did you know I was here?” Said Magnus in a startled tone, gazing up at his teacher in awe.
“Zimbadur had sent a pigeon to me...”
Zim had to smile at Aedan's words. But the children did not pay attention to them much longer; all faces turned to Magnus.
“So, you're staying!” Elmar said excitedly. “I can't believe it! We'll have so much fun together!”
“Yes! Yes!” Lars squealed, his agitated expression scaring Magnus to the grave. “That will be at least another three hundred and sixty five nights of studying together! Can you imagine how many great things we'll discover?” He breathed. For a moment, there was no answer to that, except for several cheerful nods from Elmar.
Drakonika (Book 1) Page 43