The monk paused allowing the importance of this to register with the Mages and with Zoran in particular. “Realizing the potential importance and value of his find, he sent for my wife and me. Yes, these are the long lost writings of Bandar Zar. More importantly, in them, he describes how to build a Circle of Ascension!”
Zoran gasped. The sheer magnitude of this find was incredible! Brother Jiri continued, “We three, my wife, Mikolas, and I, held long discussions and Mikolas first suggested the idea. Why not build a new Circle of Ascension right there in his fortress, creating a new power position and a new House of Duska, one to compete with Baron Kazimir, one to finally rid Adapazan of this tyrant? Once the Circle of Ascension was completed, the Council of Houses would have no choice but to recognize Mikolas and Sholov Province as a new member of the Council, effectively stopping Baron Kazimir from his planet-wide conquest of power.”
“To that end and as dictated in the writings of Bandar Zar, I began construction of the first new Circle of Ascension in centuries. It is not yet done. Oh, had I been faster in learning how to build it. Oh, if only it was in operation now, then Sholov might have been saved, but such was not to be. The Baron’s army is on the doorstep of Mikolas as I speak.”
“Mikolas, Priestess Anezka, and I all agree that under no circumstances whatsoever should these priceless documents and the partially built Circle of Ascension fall into the hands of Baron Kazimir! His only Mage was killed in the opening salvo. Now we have no way to Teleport these things from his fortress. I was forced to make the journey here overland, costing us precious time — time that we do not have. Priestess Anezka communicates with me daily, and I am afraid that time has run out for us. As we speak, the Baron’s army is besieging the fortress. We have at most hours, maybe only minutes, to rescue these things.”
“Mikolas will dedicate his life to buying us time to safely remove these items from the Baron’s grasp. He now realizes that he will not live to found the newest House, but is donating his fortune to us to help build that new House elsewhere. I have come to ask you to immediately come to the fortress of Mikolas and help us remove these things to safety. Please will you help?”
“Absolutely. Let’s get going. I can Shadow Walk us all there, but maybe it would be better if we Teleported, less chance of being followed,” Zoran replied.
Archmage Oldrich said softly, “Thank you. I have offered them all safe haven here at my tower. Please bring them and their precious materials here, which is still beyond the Baron’s long reach. After that, we can decide what to do with them. Quickly, get your things together and yes, use Teleports. We do not want your Shadow Walk to be traced back here.”
Three minutes later, the team raced back into the meeting room, armed to the teeth, so to speak. Brother Jiri said, “The only problem now is just where to arrive. Already parts of the castle are being overrun. We don’t want to materialize in that portion now controlled by the Baron. Let me contact Anezka.” A minute later, he said, I have the arrival location in my head. How am I to relate this to you so that you can know your destination point?” he looked befuddled. Yet another obstacle barred his mission, which had been fraught with barriers to overcome.
“Allow me,” Zoran replied. He focused his mind and touched that of Jiri. “Yes, Jiri, hold that image in your mind. I’m going to put his image into your minds, gang. It won’t hurt.” One by one, Zoran found the minds of his friends and tied them into the image being held on to by Jiri, who focused all his attention onto keeping that image in his mind. “Now, cast our Teleports. I will bring Jiri with me.” He cast his spell and within seconds of each other, the eight vanished from Archmage Oldrich’s tower. They did not see her praying and crossing her fingers.
They arrived in a stone room. Smoke and foul fumes drifted in through the open windows. A distressed young woman stood beside a man wearing chain mail armor, well-armed. Noise of battle echoed through the room. “Oh Jiri! It is almost too late!” Anezka exclaimed, rushing to her husband’s side. She had shoulder length blonde hair and pale blue eyes. She looked a priestess.
“Zoran? Zoran Vladislov?” Mikolas exclaimed, utterly shocked to see the duke. “You’re not dead?”
“Very much alive. I’ve come to rescue the Zors and your precious find. I can take you with us as well, if you like. These must not under any circumstances fall into my father’s hands!” He knew that he had to rapidly convince Mikolas that he was not in his father’s employ. “I’ve been with Archmage Oldrich. She is training me. We are all Mages here. Let us lend you a hand.”
“Come, it is in the basement. We can still get there, but much of the fortress is already overrun. There is so little time and I am needed here to coordinate our last lines of defense and our retribution. Jiri, take them there. Let me know when you are leaving, that I may find peace at last, knowing that our discovery is safe! May God be with you all, thank you.”
“This way,” Brother Jiri called out. They rushed down a very long stairs. The command post, where Mikolas was standing viewing and coordinating the last defense, was seven stories above the basement, where the remodeling had uncovered the precious cache. Down they descended, sounds of steel upon steel echoed loudly as they passed exits to the various floors. Soldiers were fighting inside the fortress rooms. So little time.
At last they entered the hidden room. Zoran and his friends surveyed what had to be done. “We need at least a half hour to safely pack everything,” he voiced his best guess.
Jarka concurred, “At least a half hour. Can Mikolas hold out that long?”
Zoran made telepathic contact with Mikolas and asked him. “No way gang; the first floor has been lost; they are now climbing the stairs upwards. Any moment they might head down here. We have minutes at most. Ideas? Suggestions?”
Emil volunteered, “What if dragons appeared and began attacking? Would that slow them down?”
“Wow! You bet it would! Can you do this, Emil?” Zoran asked.
“Yes, as long as they don’t need this stairs any longer. We can fit through it, but will likely bring part of the ceiling down as we wiggle through.”
“Okay, when we are ready to teleport out of here, we will let you know. You can then teleport back in here and join us. Okay?”
“Fine. Renata, it’s time to show these humans what a dragon can do!”
“Well, teen dragons, Emil. Remember, we are not fully grown yet,” she teased her brother. “You all stand way back. It will be a tight fit until we wiggle up the stairs.”
Jarka squeezed herself into the farthest corner of the room! The others flattened themselves against the back wall. All watched in utter fascination as the golden hued Emil morphed back into his normal body, a forty foot long, golden dragon. Emil stood twenty feet tall; his claws would indeed skewer a man easily. With great effort and crumbling stonework, Emil squeezed himself back up the stairs to the first floor, now controlled by the Baron’s Shock Troops. As Emil came out into a large room with soldiers running in many directions, he let out his loudest howl and belched forth a cone of broiling flames, frying a dozen men dead in their tracks. He destroyed two more groups before moving on out of the door way and took flight. Renata was right behind him.
The shock, total surprise, and utter awe completely stopped the entire siege of the fortress. Flying side by side, the twins swooped over concentrations of troops, blasting them with their giant cones of superheated flames. For variety, they occasionally let lose a powerful bolt of electrical energy at some of the fleeing soldiers. Mass pandemonium broke out, as the Baron’s soldiers ran from the fortress, fearing for their lives. Many never made it to safety. Again and again the twins circled the mountain fortress, burning or electrocuting the baron’s men. They didn’t have to worry about accidentally getting Mikolas’ men. Those that still lived were on the upper floors of the fortress.
On the top floor, Mikolas gathered the last of his men with him, only fifty remained. “My god! Dragons! Oh, if they could have only come sooner!”
exclaimed Mikolas.
“It’s a miracle! Real dragons! They are real! Look at the revenge we are having. How sweet this is!” one wounded fighter yelled. “Go get them! Kill them all!” he yelled to the dragons, who couldn’t actually hear him. They were too far away.
“Men, loyal, free men, while we have only a few minutes of life within us, God has shown us a miracle. The dragons have returned, and they are on our side! Behold miracle of all miracles!” Mikolas called out to his men. Somehow, though he had no idea how, he had been able to give his men a dying miracle. Perhaps some of his fleeing people, now high in the mountains, would also see these magnificent golden beasts coming to fight for the people of Sholov Province. He hoped that some did and would spread the word far and wide. A new day was beginning, though he knew he would not live to see it. Merely seeing the dragons and their wrath was comfort to Mikolas. His long struggle was not in vain.
His last remaining aide called out, “Boss, the last of our people has reached Bazir Pass. It is time.” A half hour had now passed, and the dragons vanished as suddenly as they had appeared, leaving behind masses of smoldering men. Over a thousand soldiers were dead or badly injured. Flames continued to burn around the outer areas of the fortress.
Mikolas touched a burning torch to one pile of black powder and then to its companion. “Here you go, Baron Kazimir. I hope you like it,” Mikolas spat on the floor. The flashing, sputtering of the gunpowder disappeared from the room, following the long ago carved channels cut into the stone for this very purpose. One ran up the mountain towards Bazir Pass, while the other ran on downhill to the tall pine forests that surrounded this end of the valley and fortress.
With the dragons now gone, the Baron’s forces regrouped and once more charged the fortress. As they reached the top floor where Mikolas and the last of his fighters prepared to battle to the end, an explosion shook the fortress. High up by Bazir Pass, an explosion brought tons of granite cascading down, totally blocking the pass. No one, no army could follow the retreating folks, who once called Sholov Province their home. The adjoining Orlovia Province was safe from the Baron’s army for now. He’d have to find another way to attack that warlord.
To the south, the pine forest with its centuries of dried pine needles erupted into flames. Indeed, the entire southern edge of the forest was soon ablaze. Mikolas was burning down the whole forest. There was no way out of this valley. Baron Kazimir would have to wait for days for the fires to burn out, leaving him nothing but an abandoned wasteland. Some prize to hold up, Mikolas sneered, and swung his sword at the oncoming soldier.
Meanwhile, in the basement, Zoran and the others began packing the priceless artifacts for transport. Complicating matters were two things. Beyond the documents, the partially constructed Circle of Ascension had to be dismantled and packed. Also, and much to Jarka’s delight, Mikolas was donating his entire treasury to them to help build this new Circle of Ascension. Five hundred thousand in gems and jewelry had to be packed as well. They were forced to leave behind the gold, however. It was too heavy to get on such short notice. However, there was not much of it; most had been converted into gems. Perhaps Mikolas had foreseen this day and had prepared.
A half hour later, they were finally ready to go. Zoran telepathically let Emil and Renata know that they were ready for them to join them in the basement. A minute later, the two reappeared, quite out of breath from their exertions. “I’m so hungry I could eat two hoofers!” Emil exclaimed rather excited about his adventures.
“Please, don’t eat us,” Jarka begged, worried that starving dragons might just let their stomachs dictate their actions.
“Relax, Jarka, we don’t eat humans. You taste really bad,” Emil replied honestly.
“Really you do. Dad says humans taste more like dragon dung. Who would want to eat that?” Renata added to her brother’s explanation. Jarka visibly relaxed, very glad to hear that!
“Come on; we got to get out of here now. Grab as many bags as you can safely carry. Teleport to our meeting room in the tower. I will bring these two with me,” Zoran ordered. He waited until the others had all gone and made sure that no bags were left. Then, Zoran took Jiri and Anezka’s hands and cast his teleport spell. Nothing but a few hundred gold coins remained in the room, and nothing that would indicate the precious documents of Bandar Zar had ever been here.
“You all smell like a battle,” Archmage Nadia said softly, after they all arrived in her meeting room on the first floor. “I take it that you were successful?”
“Close, but with the timely help of two gold dragons, who bought us the time we needed, yes, Archmage, we have returned with the whole lot. We left nothing behind, not a trace of this discovery will be found. It remains a secret to the Baron and the Houses,” Zoran reported.
“Good, good. No one is hurt?” she inquired.
“We are starving,” Emil blurted out. “All that flying and belching flames has worked us up quite an appetite.”
Everyone chuckled. “Okay, why don’t you two take off and find some hoofers. Get back as soon as it is feasible,” she suggested.
“Okay, but we want to know what goes on next,” Renata said, torn by her curiosity and her hunger. Hunger won out. The two teleported away.
“Let’s put the sacks into the study in the next room. Then, how about baths for all of you? I don’t want the stench of battle smelling up my tower. Marek will show you two to your room and the bath.” Quickly the five headed to wash up and change. Zoran noted that this would also give the twins time to get back. They wouldn’t miss anything, he hoped.
An hour later, everyone gathered back in the main entrance room. Quickly, Zoran recounted what they had done, though he deferred to Emil to relate what the dragons had done. Next, Jiri explained what had led up to this and what had very likely occurred after they left. “You see, Mikolas didn’t want all of his people in Sholov Province to become slaves of the Baron. Over these past many months, he had all those that wished to move quietly head up the Bazir Pass and down into Orlovia Province. He had assurances from the warlord there that his people would be welcomed and allowed to migrate elsewhere or settle in his province. What warlord would not desire a doubling of their population?”
“The last of them were near the pass when you all arrived. Once the last one had cleared the pass, Mikolas intended to blow up the pass, bringing tons of the surrounding granite mountainside down on the pass, effectively blocking passage into Orlovia Province from Sholov Province. That was the bargain he struck with the warlord there. Now the Baron will have to find an alternative route to assault Orlovia.”
“Simultaneously, Mikolas was to set fire to the entire southern line of the pine forest just south of the fortress. The Baron will find that he is now the proud owner of a wasteland, devoid of nearly all its inhabitants, crops, and commerce. He wins a partially destroyed stone fortress and a hundred gold pieces that we left behind. I hope the Baron chokes on this.” Many chuckled as they heard just what the Baron got for his slaughter of so many men.
“What Mikolas and we were trying to do is to create another Circle of Ascension and thus a new rival House, complete with its own baron to rival Baron Kazimir. Once we had the Circle, we are certain of gaining the respect of all the other Houses, which Mikolas hoped would put an end to the Baron’s constant conquering of lands surrounding his own. That was the plan. In the end, when we realized this was not to be, Mikolas converted all of his treasury into gems and jewels for easy transport and has donated it to Anezka and me to fund the construction of the Circle of Ascension elsewhere on Adapazan.”
“If your people would like us to remunerate them for their timely rescue of us and the partially constructed Circle, we would be more than willing to pay. Just tell us,” Jiri continued.
“No payment needed. Just glad we could help,” Zoran spoke up before anyone else could. No way was he going to accept any monetary gain. Having the chance to stop or delay or create serious problems for the Baron was vast
ly more important, as was saving these precious documents. He knew that Jarka would ask for something and this took the opportunity away from her.
“What plans do you have now for the relocation of this new Circle of Ascension, Brother Jiri?” the Archmage asked softly.
“We want to finish what Mikolas and we started out to do. We see this as the only real way to stop or end the Baron’s reign on our world. We must have our own Duska and baron, our own recognized House among the High Council,” Jiri answered her.
Priestess Anezka added, “Now we are at a loss on where we should go to build it. The more people that know of our incredible and precious find, the sooner others are going to come after us to steal it for themselves. These documents are utterly priceless. Honestly, we are a bit at a loss on just how to proceed now that Mikolas is gone and cannot protect us any longer. I would hate to just turn all this over to the Ruling Houses and let them have these documents.”
Archmage Nadia sighed and then began, “Truly we find that we are at a crossroads — all of us gathered together in this room. What we decide or fail to decide here will have an enormous, if not utterly profound impact, not only on us but on the entire Federation of Planets. You are quite right. As soon as news of this find leaks out, every House in the Federation will be after those documents, one way or another. If they cannot outright buy it from you, most certainly they will send in their assassins to secure it.”
“You cannot go from warlord to warlord offering to build it at their fortress. None of them alone could possibly stand against the Baron’s army, a multitude of assassins, or even other Houses who might Shadow Walk their armies here to take it by force of arms.”
“Yet, if somewhere the Circle of Ascension could be built and then presented to the Federation’s High Council, you stand a good chance of being recognized and added to the High Council, but you would need at least one Duska to become the baron there. I assure you that if you did not have a bonafide Duska, the High Council would appoint one of their own as your Duska, which is not desirable either.”
Zoran Chronicles Volume 1 A Dragon in Our Town Page 11