The Wizards and Witches that remained needed a new sovereign. Thoucil was next in line, but she refused and took the position of Grand Wizard instead. Dragdani, as her son and heir, accepted the throne and his coronation happened almost immediately.
When the Wizards had rebuilt their order, Dragdani then helped the withes do the same, and in their turn, also helped the Dragons find a new home. It is said that he went to the cleft of Lavoul and raised an island from the very sea itself, that he moved it away from the coast and further out to sea to make sure that the Dragons would be left to live in pace.
“I see that it’s happened already,” said Delsani.
“What’s happened?” asked Helen.
John turned around to look at her. “My eyes have changed.”
“Not just your eyes John,” she said, aghast. “Your ears have changed too.”
“It’s all right,” said Delsani. “All Wizard-Elves go through this.”
“Why didn’t you tell us that before?” asked John with a note of distress, now that the novelty of his new eyes had worn off.
“It must’ve slipped my mind,” said Delsani.
John walked over to a display case. He could see his reflection agsin and looked at his ears repeatedly from one to the other. They were exactly the same height and width. They were pointed, and both had one small notch near the top of the lobe. John had not seen this before when he noticed the change in his eyes, though now could see all of it easily. Then his eyes returned to normal, though his ears did not.
“Why haven’t my ears turned back?” he asked distraughtly.
“Well, that’s because they’re permanent,” replied Delsani.
“Permanent,” repeated John loudly; he was even more distressed with this. “You said Wizard-Elves can do things that ordinary Wizard’s and Witches can’t,” he said almost desperately. “So does that mean that I could find a way to change my ears back?” he asked optimistically.
“Perhaps,” said Delsani.
“Why do Wizard-Elves have those strange eyes?” asked Helen, making her self-known once more.
“I’ll explain on the way up to the Council Chambers. The Council will be waiting for us,” replied Delsani.
They began to walk toward the far doors at the end of the hall to their left. But just before they had reached it, John saw the display case that held Dragdani’s wand. The one the King had used before he got his Wizard-Elf abilities. It also held a set of his robes from the days when he attended the old Wizard college, Jaldgiler, along with his flying broomstick that he used to win the B.A.R (Broomstick Amateur Races) twice in a row.
The once-great broom was a little worse for wear. Not too far from the top of the broomstick shaft was a grip, a long thick piece of material which was tightly wrapped around that part of the shaft. It was torn. Half way down. The shaft was badly cracked, which was the result of the unfortunate accident that almost had taken the life of the young Wizard. The accident happened at the race during Dragdani’s fourth year at college. It was the second year he had raced, as young Wizards and Witches were only allowed to enter the broomstick races in their third year.
All broomsticks were fitted with safety bars. These were metal strips strengthened with magic to ensure the safety of the rider. In the event of a crash, the safety bar would detect it and a large bubble would surround the rider and give them a softer landing. However, the safety bar could not protect the rider if they were to fall off. The bars ran down the shafts of the brooms then split into finer pieces which were mixed amongst the twig bristles.
Those were not Dragdani’s only possessions on display. There were many of his things, even the necklace piece which they had seen his double wearing only minutes before. His spell book was probably the most famous of all of his possessions, for written somewhere in its pages was the spell that defeated the Dark Wizard, Salith, though none knew what it was. The Wizard-Elf had put protection spells on the book to prevent it ever being opened by anyone but him.
They walked on, and when they got to the end of the hall there were three doors. They took the one to the left. The runes on it moved and changed into two separate words that both said WELCOME. The top one was the Wizard language, and the bottom one was in English:
Hiwol
Welcome
Then the door opened by itself.
They walked through the doorway. At first the room was black, though suddenly there was a bright light. There were no torches or candles or anything that would usually emit such a strong illumination. And although the light was strong, Helen could still see no walls, which intrigued her more than anything else. At first, all that could be seen were wooden doors. The doors were numbered and floating around the room on small pieces of what looked like thick mist or cloud. Most of the doors were brown, but not all, for there were red, grey, blue, and even green doors as well. To their right there were two bright stone staircases. They were twisting and coiling around each other, going up as far as the eye could see. Well, as far as Delsani and Helen’s could see. Up the steps went, around and around like two giant snakes. At the bottom of both staircases, on either side, were posts bearing the image of Dragdani’s Dragon carved into white stone.
“What is this place?” asked Helen.
“This is one of the three vault rooms,” replied Delsani. “The vault door moves about each of the rooms, floating around with the dimensional doors, and the only ones who know which vault room it is in are the Grand Wizard and the other members of the Council.”
“And what are dimensional doors?” asked Helen, now totally baffled.
“Remember when I said that dimensional windows show us worlds that are very like our own? Well. These are dimensional doors that allow access to other worlds that in almost every case are so alien that it can take years to learn how to talk to the people who live there. But be careful not to open a door that leads to a demon dimension.”
“How do you know the difference between them?” asked Helen.
“Usually you can hear screaming coming from the demon doors,” replied John mordantly.
“Why didn’t you tell me about this John?” asked Helen, who sounded excited with the idea but also disappointed that she had not known about it before.
“If you remember, you didn’t want to know too much about Dorminya. You wanted to use your imagination for your books or I would have told you everything,” replied John defensively.
“Well, now I want to know everything,” said Helen, very intrigued by all she was learning.
When they got to the foot of the staircase facing them, they stopped. Helen looked up. It was so high that she grew dizzy. “That looks like a long climb,” she said.
“What climb,” asked John. He stepped forward onto the staircase and stood there for less than a second with both of his feet on the first step, and then suddenly vanished.
“What happened?” cried Helen. John had not told her of the staircases either.
“The staircases are just for show,” said Delsani. “When you step onto the first tread on either one, you’ll instantly be teleported to whatever floor you wish. You should go next. Fifth floor, by the way.’
Helen said nothing. If her facial expression was anything to go by, she was not at all excited about this. Her morbid fear battled with her fascination, and with this weighing on her mind, she stepped forward onto the step, shut her eyes tight. Then, like John, she too disappeared.
When she reappeared, John was there waiting. “Congratulations,” he said.
“For what?” Helen asked as she opened her eyes again.
“For your second magical experience,” replied John. “I forgot to congratulate you the first time round.”
“No,” said Helen, putting up her right index finger and waving it slowly from side to side. “That was my fourth magical experience. First I came here,” and she started counting with her fingers, “Then the dimensional window, and then there were the floating doors. Then the teleporting staircase
s.” She finished, sounding clever and looking quite pleased with herself.
“You think you’re so smart, don’t you?” John asked.
Helen laughed. “Smarter then you, anyway,” she said.
“You know, now that I’m a King, you shouldn’t talk to me like that,” said the Wizard-Elf, “or I might end up taking a leaf out of Henry the Eighth’s book, and you know what happened to his wives.”
“Don’t even think it,” said his wife with a smile.
“If the two of you don’t mind, I would like to get to the Council before they send out a search party to look for us, or before I die of old age whichever comes first,” said Delsani, appearing just behind Helen.
“Somehow I think the latter might come before the former,” joked the King.
This made his wife snigger.
Delsani on the other hand said nothing; he merely smiled.
From there, they walked on along a grey corridor that displayed a number of openings to either side of them.
“Delsani, you said that you would tell us why Wizard-Elves have those strange eyes,” said Helen.
“It’s because of the Dragon blood that flows though their veins’ said Delsani. “Thoucil’s great grandfather, King Basan, fought at one of the greatest battles between Salith and the alliance of the six races and was critically injured. He lost a lot of blood, and it was the silver scaled Dragon, Lanisic, that gave the King some of his blood in order to save him, not knowing of course the consequences of his act, for Basan healed very quickly and found that he was stronger and faster than ever. Although when Thoucil was born, her mixture of Dragon, Wizard, and Elf blood that made her blood the most magical of all. This gave her an energy and unique abilities. And the eyes, like the ears and marks on the wrist, are all aberrations caused by the mixture of three of the most magical races in Dorminya.”
They had reached the end of the hall where there were more steps. Helen counted them. There were exactly ten. At the top of the steps was a slender bridge, wide enough for at least four people. Running down the walls at either side of the walkway were two thin waterfalls that led to nothing but a deep dark drop below.
Helen stayed in the middle of the bridge; Delsani was now her left and John on her right. She found herself looking at the waterfalls, wondering where the water was coming from, for they were five floors up. When they were almost halfway over the bridge, Helen took the lead and was almost across when she turned to see were the others were. She saw that John’s wand was about to fall out of his right trouser pocket. It was hanging by only a thread.
“JOHN YOUR WAND,” she shouted.
The Wizard-Elf reached down, but just before he could grasp it, it fell. He leaned over and stretched out to catch it but lost his balance and fell off of the bridge. Helen saw it all as though in slow motion. However, to her complete and utter surprise, John did not fall too far. In fact, it looked to Helen that he had hit ground. He stood up and picked up his wand and continued as if nothing had occurred.
Helen was standing there with her hands over her mouth, and although she was naturally pale, she was now as white as a sheet with her hands and very arms quivering.
“What’s wrong?” asked John.
“I thought you were going to fall,” said Helen with a twinge of distress still in her voice.
“You can’t fall down there. It’s just an illusion,” said John tapping has foot on the invisible ground. When he said that, her color started to return though her hands continued to rattle.
They proceeded to walk across the rest of the bridge.
“Why is the illusion there?” she asked.
“There’s no real reason for it, but it looks better than an ordinary dark dank room, don’t you think?” said a strange voice.
“I think so,” said John.
Helen spun round to see who else was there, but she saw no one.
“What is it?” asked John.
“Who were you agreeing with?”
“Me,” said a man’s grainy voice.
“I, too, agree completely. You should have seen it before they put the illusion there,’ said a younger, smoother man’s voice.
“Oh terrible, terrible,” said a young woman’s voice.
“Yes terrible,” said another woman.
“Who’s saying that?” asked Helen.
“Turn around, Normal; we’re right here,” said the first voice.
Helen turned to face the wall closest to her, and there on a shelf carved into the stone were four head statuettes, two male, two female, two young, and two old.
“Be careful what you say. Need I remind you that this is the new King and his Queen?” said Delsani sternly.
“So you are King Jastark. Ha! Ha! I knew it! Didn’t I always say that there was something special about that boy?” asked the older male statue with the grainy voice.
“Yes, it’s true, and I would like to think so, too, after all the times we helped with his homework,” said the younger male.
“Who...what are you?” asked Helen inquisitively.
They all looked at the young woman intensely.
“Well, have you ever! After all the times we helped him, he’s never even mentioned us. There’s gratitude for you,” said the older female’
“We are representations of the first of four Wizards and Witches to liberate these towers from the Dark Lord who once lived here,” said the elder male, not paying attention to his compatriot, “As for who we are, or should I say were. The name’s Anret. Nice to meet you.”
“My name is Gerov,” said the elder female statue.
“Salonuith,” said the young male.
“Cajui is the name,” said the younger female, bowing her head a little, which almost tipped her over in the process, but she quickly caught her balance again.
“Well, you know ours,” said Anret, “so I ask you, fair Queen, what is your name?”
“Helen.”
“What a beautiful Normal name,” Salonuith said sarcastically.
The younger female statue sniggered.
“Hail Queen Helen of the Normals,” said Salonuith.
“That’s enough out of you!” said Delsani furiously.
The statue threw the Wizard a disgusted look, as though he had just tried to eat a jar of raw pickles.
“I’m sure he didn’t mean anything by it, Delsani,” said Helen.
“Helen’s right. Besides, the statue of Salonuith was made when he was a young Ves-Guard, before he turned dark,” John assured Delsani. “He helped me out more times than I can count when I was alone in this place, and I never would’ve made it through history class without them all.”
“Fine, but I will never trust it, never as long as I live,” said the old Wizard.
“For your information,” said Salonuith, sounding clearly upset, “I am not, nor have I ever been. The one of which you speak, so I would appreciate it if you never address me as he ever again.”
“We should move on,” said Delsani, ignoring the last remark made by that statuette. And on they went. The passageway curved off to the left, and then they came to yet three more doors. Delsani and John walked toward the middle door, closely followed by Helen. Delsani opened door and waited until John and Helen were through. Then they began to walk down yet another long dark corridor. Helen noticed that there was only one torch, which was floating just in front of them. It seemed dimmer then the others she had seen. They could only see about five paces ahead. But with every pace they took. The light moved forward as the torch led them all the way. This did not seem to bother Delsani or John, so Helen said nothing of it.
The corridor bent round to the right. Then they passed on through a door again on the right. The torch did not follow them through the door, as that place was well lit. They walked straight then turned left and did not go far before they came to another set of double doors. These doors were very large and were also made of stone, but instead of being grey. They were blue. On the left door, there was an eight-po
int star, which was one of the most common signs of the Elves. On the right door was also an illustration of a full moon, a common sign of the Wizards.
Sometimes these signs were placed together as a symbol of their friendship. There was also a thick stone arch above the doors and on it; it had letters, which were in the Wizard and Elven languages that read:
Speak the name of the council member you know. And the doors will tell if you are friend or foe.
Delsani took out his wand, stepped toward the doors and tapped the wand on the moon door. “Jaucal,” he said in a foreboding voice, naming the Grand Wizard, the head of the Wizard Councils. Nothing happened at first, though when he pointed at the doors with his right index finger. They began to open slowly.
Helen could have sworn that she felt the floor beneath her feet shake, though she could not tell for sure.
“Helen, you’ll have to stay out here,” said John.
“Why?” the woman asked, disappointed.
“The only ones allowed in the Council Chamber during a meeting have to have a special invitation,” said John.
“And as you decided to come at the last moment, the doors will not admit you,” said Delsani. “I am sorry”
John took his wand out of his back trouser pocket. He pointed it at one of the many chairs in the Council Chamber.
“What are you doing?” asked Delsani.
“I’m getting Helen a chair,” answered John.
“You don’t need your wand for that John,” said Delsani, suddenly snatching it from him. “You’re a Wizard-Elf, which means you can use your mind if you concentrate hard enough.”
“Try it,” said Helen enthusiastically.
John looked at the chair, held out his right hand toward it and in his mind he pictured the chair moving from where it was to the wall beside him. But nothing happened.
“You’re not concentrating hard enough,” said Delsani.
John concentrated harder, and this time with more than just the picture in his mind. Seopten, he thought, which is the word for chair or seat in the Wizard language. The chair vanished from the table it once inhabited and reappeared in front of the wall as he had commanded.
The Second Prophecy (Part 1 of the Dragdani Prophecies) Page 3