“Undoubtedly so,” Zoran replied, now taking up the narrative. He’d reached his judgment of Janos and was very pleased to see that anger and hatred had not festered in the ex-General who had been exiled for treason. He then began a careful and lengthy explanation of what the Brother Jiri and Priestess Anezka Zar were going to do, build the first new Circle of Ascension in several centuries. “As soon as it is built, all of the other sixteen Houses will instantly know of its existence. A new power will suddenly appear, shaking up their rigidly fixed world outlook. Of course, the new House will have to have a Duska. I have volunteered to be their Duska.” He paused, letting the magnitude of his simple statement register.
“Who are you anyway?” Janos asked, his eyes piercing into Zoran, as if he had not yet seen him.
“Zoran Vladislov, unfortunately Baron Kazimir is my father. I aim to put a stop to his tyranny here on Adapazan, if I possibly can.”
Janos opened his mouth to respond, but sat speechless. Wild emotions ravaged through his mind. Here was the son of his enemy sitting at his table, the son of the vilest, wickedest, most sadistic man he had ever had the misfortune of serving. Yet, the son was not his father, slowly that idea rooted and took over control of his mind. As it did, he stood up and gave Zoran a long unused, courtly bow, as he once had done so very long ago, when he was a young man in his early twenties. “My duke,” he bowed a second time, embarrassing Zoran even further.
“Please, just Zoran, and please, you don’t have to bow to me. Rather it is I that ought to bow to you — you who alone had the will and courage to defy the Baron’s orders to further ravage poor villagers. I am honored to meet you, General Janos Lavos.” Zoran rose and bowed to him. Zdenka looked totally shocked at both men, not knowing how to react. That her father had bowed to Zoran filled her with surprise and a little awe. She had never known her fiercely independent father to bow to any man, yet he did to this young lad. She felt ill at ease, courtly manners and rules she had never known and suddenly felt that she was somehow dishonoring Zoran by not — well she didn’t know what she ought to have been doing, she concluded.
“Now then, Janos. Once the Circle of Ascension is made and activated, a new House will come into existence. As you know, the Baron’s Circle is deep within the heavily fortified Castle Dorumova. Ours will be in a simple Archmage tower; there is not anything remotely like a fortress in this whole province. Yet, it will be guarded by the Archmage and all us Mages. Plus, I have made a deal with the golden dragons of Voss. They will then become visible to everyone and fly protection for the tower. Let’s see an army even try to attack Brn then! However, I will also need some handpicked, well-trained guards to help with physical security. I need a General of Security. Janos, I would be highly honored if you would consent to become my new General of Security. Please give this serious consideration. I know of no one better qualified than you in this entire province.”
He grinned, “How can I possibly refuse your offer? My daughter is now a Mage and will be protecting the tower. I absolutely insist that I lend a hand. Not only for her sake — she is all that I have left that matters most to me — but also if this will in some way help put an end to the Baron’s continual subjugation of the free peoples of this world, I must lend my assistance to this strange adventure. You, sir, know how to strike a hard bargain,” he teased Zoran, while a broad smile brought out his age lines on his forehead.
“Thank you General Janos. I don’t have any idea how long it will take Brother Jiri to actually get this Circle constructed. I suspect some time. Money ought not be an object.”
“We have time then. What sir are your orders?” he asked formally.
“Come and look the situation over at the tower, if you are not familiar with it. Make your own judgments on what number of security forces we ought to have. Pick your own men, equip them as you see fit, train them as you desire. We have money enough, within reason at this point. As soon as we have an estimate on the finishing date, I’ll let you know. Probably we have at least six months before we need security in full.”
“Completely my decisions? I am going to enjoy this service! Incredible difference between you and your father, who left me with little or no choices at all in such matters. I promise to do my very best. I want to finish up my little project here for my daughter. I’ll head into Brn in a few days, if that is acceptable.”
“Absolutely.”
“What project, dad? You never told me about any project for me?” Zdenka was suddenly quite curious.
“A little surprise for my lovely daughter, now a Mage. I will wait for the right time to give you my little present, Mage Zdenka Lavos. Your mother would be so incredibly proud of you dear. I know that I am the proudest father on Adapazan.”
She blushed again, but her curiosity went unquenched, which slightly annoyed her. “What present? Daddy, come on, what present?” she pleaded and begged. Zoran was glad it was not him who was offering her a present! At last the besieged man gave in. How could any man resist her, Zoran wondered.
“Come on. I’ll show you. I’ve got a dozen done already. It was going to be a surprise for when you graduated, but since you are now officially a Mage, I guess this is as good a time as any. To the barn. I was working on them when you came.” While the three strolled to the barn, Zdenka had her arm around her father, continually trying to get him to walk faster, which he playfully refused to do.
Inside the barn, he handed her a beautifully handcrafted quiver of arrows. A dozen arrows were already inside it. “I know that Mages can enchant magical weapons, but I also know that those items must be of the finest quality. Each of these arrows meet the highest standards. I ought to know. I am making you two dozen, enough to fill this quiver. If you can then enchant them, you will have two dozen magical arrows on which to fall back, should magic spells be insufficient.”
Both Zdenka and Zoran examined the shafts and tips. Indeed, he had done excellent work. The tips were actually hunting style, that is, with two interlocking planes, yielding a four razor sharp edges to pierce even the toughest armor when she used her powerful longbow to propel them. Even if they were not enchanted, these were a superb set of arrows. She hugged her dad and thanked him repeatedly.
“Now you two ought to get on with your magical training. You’ve wasted enough time with an old man. Get going. I’ll head into Brn in a few days and leave word where I will be staying,” he insisted.
“Okay, I want you to meet the other members of our team, including the dragon twins. Is it all right if I have them come now to visit for a short while?” Zoran asked.
“Sure, I would love to meet the others who are part of Mage Zdenka’s team. It is rare that anyone has a Mage team. Besides, I’d love to meet these golden dragons in person. Few can ever say that they have talked with a dragon. It would be something to tell my grandsons about, if I ever get any,” he teased Zdenka, who again blushed.
Two minutes later, five more teleported to her homestead. “Bernard, great to see you again!” Janos shook his hand vigorously. Zdenka explained to the others that they gotten their dog from Bernard. One by one, Zdenka introduced Karel, Jarka, Emil, and Renata. The dragon twins were obvious, for the golden hue of their skin gave them away, now that everyone knew that they were really dragons.
They even morphed back into their real forms for him, enjoying his lavish attention. Zoran then explained to these five who Janos was; they had not made the connection from their history lessons. Now that it was pointed out to them, all five realized that Zoran had indeed picked an excellent man to become their General of Security.
After chatting about their recent adventures, the five teleported back to the tower, leaving Zdenka to say goodbye to her father. That done, Zoran, still holding her arm, led her out onto the clearing before casting his spell. He whispered, “It is so peaceful here, Zdenka. I can see why you love it here in this forest.”
“Yes, a kind of peace that is hard to find in bustling Brn. I really do miss it, but our
magic studies mostly fill my mind. The spells are getting so hard to learn aren’t they?” she mused.
“Yes, they will only get harder. I supposed that we ought to get back.” Rather reluctantly, Zoran teleported them back to the tower.
Chapter 10 News from Home
That night, Rayna made mental contact with Zoran. Zoran! Dad’s back. All sorts of vital news! Radek’s been badly burned! Golden dragons appeared — breathing fiery brimstone — killing soldiers — burned Radek horribly!
Calm down, Rayna. That’s it, slow, deep breaths. Okay. Start at the beginning.
Dad came back a while ago. He had to Shadow Walk back, carrying Radek in his arms. He said they were just about to take the last level of the Warlord Mikolas’ fortress, when out of nowhere these two golden colored dragons came flying up and out of the basement level. They shot fire and flames from their mouths. Some said it was more like lightning bolts, though I don’t know how anyone can mix up those two effects. Thousands of troops were killed or badly injured, burns mostly. Radek was one of them. He was badly burned. Gosh his face looks horrible. He’s at the healers now.
Then, somehow the whole southern forest around that fortress turned into flames, blocking everyone’s retreat. However, the explosion which dad says was supposed to bring the mountains down on him and all his men failed. It only blocked a high mountain pass. We guess he got lucky on that one. His men are still trapped there until the fires die down. It’s too big to be easily put out.
Dad says that he now controls Sholov Province. I asked him what is there. I got a strange answer. He said empty villages and towns. When I asked him where did all the people go, he shrugged and suggested they were all forced into the warlord’s army. Zoran, are they really making children fight their wars now?
No, I highly doubt that, sis. Maybe the villagers fled. I know I would if I knew the Baron’s army was coming to conquer the province. I’d rather move elsewhere than live under the thumb of that despot. Probably all moved away, that’s all. He didn’t want to disclose the fact that he had been there or why. It was too risky, for Rayna might let something accidentally slip.
I’m going to check on how Radek is doing. I’ll get back to you in a bit.
Although Radek was his brother, he felt little sympathy for him. Undoubtedly, Radek had killed or ordered killed many brave men who were fighting for their freedom. Zoran laid in his small bed and stared at the dark ceiling. Am I really going to take on dad and Radek? Someone has got to or this senseless killing will just continue until there’s no people left that he doesn’t control their very lives. Imagined images of fighting his father and older brother floated through his consciousness. Such unnerved him, could he actually fight either one?
Sometime later that night, Rayna made contact with him once more. Radek is recovering. He’s lost his right eye and his face will be badly scarred, the physicians say. They are more worried about his fighting arm and legs. They say from now on, all three may be terribly sensitive to both heat and cold. He’ll never be the fighter that he used to be; they all agree on that.
Dad was furious and, Zoran, he beat the physician who told him that something awful — broke his jaw and arm! I overheard him telling Archmage Milos to quadruple his efforts to find you. I think dad wants to somehow have you replace Radek. I believe that dad thinks he can somehow force you to be like Radek. Leda and I are becoming afraid for your safety. We both know that you are never going to go along with him and be like Radek, propagating his savagery on others. What are you going to do?
Nothing. No one knows where I am at and I intend for it to stay that way. This was all getting too close to home. Zoran desperately wanted to change the subject. How’s mom? How’s she taking it?
Not too good. She’s been sitting beside him all this time. Leda finally got her to go to bed; it’s late. Maybe mom will feel better in the morning. We can hope so. I’m going to chat with Leda now. I heard her coming back. More later. Love you. Bye.
Love you too.
For some time, Zoran lay in his bed thinking. Could he be found? Could someone find him here? Until now, he figured they wouldn’t be all that interested in finding him and thus he was safe here. Now — now things had changed, if, and this was a big if, his dad actually thought that he could somehow manipulate Zoran into stepping into Radek’s shoes, becoming everything Zoran detested. If so, then his many Mages could systematically visit every province looking for him. Yes, they could go invisible and hang out around a town, looking and listening for any word of Zoran. He realized now that he had been foolish to have kept his first name. He ought to have abandoned it too. Hindsight can be a wonderful education, he mused, angry at his own foolishness.
For a few minutes, he considered going around to all those in Brn to whom he had told his first name and casting a forget spell on them. He began tallying them up and soon faced the utter futility of that. Far too many people had now crossed paths with him.
He had visions of one of the Baron’s Mages coming to Brn, casting a disguise spell on himself and making inquiries about Zoran. Have you seen a young lad now nineteen with shoulder length brown hair and blue eyes that seemed to penetrate you? Oh, how foolish not to have cut his hair, grown a long beard, anything so as not to resemble himself.
“Hey, Zoran, time to rise!” Zdenka called to him through his door. Morning already!
Chapter 11 More Studies
“Gosh, you look awful,” she commented when he joined her and his friends for breakfast.
“Didn’t get much sleep,” he grumbled. “Radek was burned in the attack. My sister talked with me last night. She believes that the Baron is going to redouble his efforts to find me. I had nightmares about that, I guess.” He admitted the truth, well mostly.
“Despots will do that to you!” Karel growled angrily and stabbed another piece of bacon.
Zoran was only too glad to enter the third floor study room, if only to gain solace in studying. A slight musty odor permeated the room. Valuable scrolls holding advanced spells beckoned to them all, and his team dove into their studies once more.
This time, the check lists they were given seemed vastly longer, much more to study and digest. Zoran found solace in this, in that he didn’t have to think about the future and what it might hold for him. Could he actually duel his father?
The spells were becoming far more complex to cast. Now they began to realize all of this extra reading material was providing a solid framework, a reference base, which would make the casting of the actual spell easier to handle. Bernard was exuberant when he discovered that he could now Conjure Animals, that is, bring animals into existence, even if their lifetimes were short lived. He was most impressed with their dedication to fighting to protect him from danger.
Oh the other hand, Jarka was wild about the ability to Make a Suggestion to a Crowd. With a casting of her new spell, she could place a suggestion into a crowd of people, who would then act upon it. Of course, the closer the suggestion was to their reality, the better they followed it. Zoran had visions of Jarka suggesting that everyone in the inn donate a gold piece to her funds and her sitting back collecting them. He grinned as the images played through his mind.
Two weeks later, Zoran successfully cast a spell that he deemed highly useful for himself. At last he was as exuberant as Bernard had been with his conjured animals. He could now project his image some four hundred feet away from where he was standing. Others found it difficult indeed to tell the difference between the image and him! He realized that if he ever did have to fight his father, he could gain an advantage for a short while by having this image of himself doing the fighting while he took a different tack. Then, he realized that this spell could be used to good avail by an actual assassin! Imagine the image of the assassin attacking his prey, while the true assassin stabbed the totally distracted prey in the back! Somehow Zoran knew this was going to be a powerful spell. He then set to work on finding ways and means to detect the image from the real person and
how to thwart it.
A week later, the team began tackling another highly powerful and useful spell, the ability to Erect a Contingency Spell. That is, if a specific thing happened, immediately the chained spell would activate. Their scrolls suggested numerous uses. For example, in case I get badly wounded, teleport me to my bedroom. In case I get blinded, teleport me to a place of safety. If I am about to be stabbed in the back, move my body ten feet away. If I am falling over ten feet, cast levitation on myself. If I am drowning, cast Swim.
Jarka made up a new one, “Gang, how about this one. In case I get caught picking someone’s pocket, teleport me to my home.” Everyone moaned in mock protest. She called out, “Hey, even better, in case I get caught, cast Forget on everyone present.” They all roared with laughter.
“Hey, then you will forget too!” Karel pointed out to her and everyone roared once more. She glared at him and then realized her mistake and laughed along with everyone else.
Slowly the days passed. As August came to a close, Zoran began noticing that Jarka and Bernard’s check lists had more and more unchecked off spells on them. As their team leader, he took the opportunity to examine this phenomenon more closely. Indeed, each had only been able to learn one spell out of the last fifteen! The blanks were only increasing in frequency. Karel’s list also contained a lot of blanks, but not quite the same frequency. The twins were following their usual pattern of seemingly random spells being learned, perhaps one in five.
At last, although he really didn’t want to, he examined Zdenka’s list. He found himself wanting her to be somehow different, but didn’t know why. He forced his eyes to confront her list. While she too had gaps, they were nowhere as large as the others! He breathed a huge sigh of relief and then wondered why he did that? Why am I so relieved, he thought to himself. Finally, he looked at his own list and blinked twice. He had a gap here and there, particularly on spells that he considered too evil to cast, such as turning dead bodies into walking, attacking mindless zombies.
Zoran Chronicles Volume 1 A Dragon in Our Town Page 13