The Hero's Peril (The Sorcerer's Saga Book 5)

by Rain Oxford

  He laughed. “You’re in a dress.”

  “Yes, and you’ll be able to tell all your allies and enemies how a man in a dress defeated you with his hands tied behind his back.” When I felt Kalyn start to cut the rope, I pulled away from her. She got the idea and stopped.

  “You have no magic,” Sondre said.

  “Oh, I have more magic than you can imagine.”

  “You’re a wizard.”

  My vision dimmed a little. Fortunately, Kalyn had forewarned me this would happen, so I was expecting it. Everyone, including Sondre, took a step back in fear. What they saw was my eyes glowing red.

  After it had its intended effect, my vision went back to normal.

  “How?”

  Trusting that my staff was still invisible, I raised it up over my shoulder. Veðrgramr, come to me. “You should never have messed with my kingdom.”

  “It will be my kingdom!”

  My magic cycled through me easily, since I was familiar with it and because Veðrgramr wasn’t fighting it.

  The guards panicked when the dragon took shape. Had we been outside in a field, or at least at a distance from the dragon, I would have thought they were overreacting. However, the fact that Veðrgramr could barely fit in the room made him look larger.

  They fled the room, giving Veðrgramr the necessary space to maneuver. When he turned to me, I was almost afraid he would eat me. I had summoned my dragon earlier in Yuri’s room to explain the plan and politely ask him to go along with it, but just because he agreed didn’t mean he couldn’t have changed his mind. “Who has offended you?”

  I pointed to the king and sorcerer. Said king and sorcerer spun on their heels and ran for the door… which slammed shut before they could reach it. They both turned to me. Kalyn quickly took my staff from me and I revealed that my hands were still bound and I was still wand-less.

  “See what I can do without a wand?”

  That was Mason’s cue to get away from the door and I really hoped he heard it, because Veðrgramr roared, blowing fire across the room and charring the door instantly. Sondre and King Wallace had intentionally been missed.

  “And that was just a warning shot.”

  “You can’t have that kind of power,” Sondre said, shaking. “I heard you tell your mother---”

  “Exactly what I wanted you to hear,” I interrupted. “I wanted you out of the castle. We are far stronger than you can know. Our lands are protected and guarded by dragons and sorcerers, and if you ever try to mess with us again— if you even think of attacking us, you will lose everything you have.”

  My energy was all going into Veðrgramr, so when I said the line, it was Thaddeus who threw open the shutters to reveal that the night sky was full of dragons. Illusionary dragons, but they didn’t know that, and the one in the room proved itself real.

  “Did I make my point or do I need to reiterate?”

  As if he couldn’t wait for my word to kill, Veðrgramr dug his talons into the wood floor, leaning forward until his head was above the king. The king was bent so far backwards to avoid contact with the dragon that I heard his back popping.

  The king ignored his body’s limitations. “Yes,” he squeaked, his voice cracking.

  Kalyn handed me back my staff. “Good. Thank you, Veðrgramr, that will be all for now.” My dragon dispersed into smoke and was reabsorbed into my galaxy stone. The energy returned to me, giving me enough strength for one last spell. “Oh, and good luck with your kingdom. I hope you don’t lose it by trying to bite off more than you can chew.” The king’s face was so pale he could have fit in the black-and-white world.

  Kalyn’s hand slipped into mine and I focused my mind on Yuri’s room.

  A moment later, we were in Yuri’s bedroom with Merlin. Kalyn’s invisibility spell fell away. Thad and Mason were both in a celebratory mood, but I was concerned for Kalyn, who looked like she was having trouble staying awake.

  “Did you overdo it?”

  She smiled, but it was her fake smile. “Of course not.” She stepped behind me so that I couldn’t see her face and carefully cut the rope. “What’s a little bit of invisibility and five hundred dragons?”

  “All I got to do was open a window!” Thad complained.

  “I closed a door,” Mason countered.

  “I had to stay behind,” Merlin said aloud. Everyone shut up and the room lost its joviality.

  After a tense silence, Thad patted my shoulder hard. “You looked way more like a sorcerer in there than any of our brothers, and you did it in a dress!”

  Mason and Kalyn remembered that I was wearing a dress and started laughing. That even lightened Merlin’s mood.

  Chapter 20

  Word of our confrontation spread throughout the land so quickly, that the very next day, all of the citizens were celebrating. Yuri had evolved from “the immortal prince” to “the king of dragons.” He was certainly in for a shock when he returned.

  The citizens couldn’t figure out why the king and queen didn’t want to celebrate. Since it would have been difficult to explain that they wanted to wait until their son had returned before celebrating him, they simply said that Yuri needed to rest.

  Always willing to help, Mason called in his family to reinforce the kingdom’s defenses, just in case. Not surprisingly, Thaddeus went wherever Mason went, insisting that Mason needed a sorcerer’s protection. I thought it was great that my brother was such good friends with a wizard/mage. It felt like the world wasn’t so segregated anymore.

  Change was something to look forward to, not feared.

  Kalyn stayed at the castle to pretend to be Yuri until his return. She said that the people needed their hero. “You could stay,” she said. We were both in Yuri’s room at that point… alone. “I don’t mind dressing you every day. You saw how well we work together.”

  “I don’t think dressing myself is that daunting a task. Besides, I have some things I need to do and by then, Yuri should be back. Once he returns, you need to continue looking for your family.”

  She sighed. “Then, this is goodbye?”

  “For a while. It’s not like we won’t run into each other again. And I know how to write you a letter now.”

  “Well, if you get a bat from me, you’d better come running. I don’t want my hero getting lazy.” She pressed a small, wooden box against my chest and stood.

  I put my hand over it to hold it so that she could let go. “What’s this?” I asked.

  She was halfway to the door before she said, “I’m paying it forward for when I make you mad.” Then she left without another word.

  Inside was a delicately carved wooden bear the size of my hand.

  * * *

  Merlin and I took Ascelin’s ring back to Ascelin. I argued that there were more important matters, but Merlin wanted to take care of the small things first. It turned out not to be that small. We couldn’t use the mirror portal, so we tried to call Alice with another letter. When she didn’t show, we went back to Zarus’s castle… which was gone.

  The entire castle was gone, leaving behind only a bald spot on the ground.

  It was then that I stuck my hands in my pockets for no reason at all, and felt something that hadn’t been there the day before. It was a folded up note. “I had completely forgotten that Ascelin gave me this!”

  “Yes, that happens a lot around him. He calls them a deception of perception. He intentionally makes you forget things he does not want you to remember until later.”

  “With magic?”

  “Worse; with psychology. He knows how the mind works so well he can influence people better than magic can.”

  I unfolded the note and recognized it as a portal instantly. Right there on the ground, I got to work painting it. I had brought my supplies to paint on a floor. Making it on the dirt was a lot more difficult, but Merlin said it was better this way. He assured me that even if someone came along who knew how to use it, the rain would wash it away before that happened.

&nb
sp; I wasted no time once the portal was done. We appeared right outside the magic shop. I knew that Alice’s potion had worn off because the sign on the door was a mess of symbols I couldn’t read. Merlin disregarded it and told me to open the door. I did, and it opened easily.

  Ascelin was in his chair with a new book, which he set on the table. “Welcome back. You two are looking well.”

  “How can I still understand you?” I asked.

  Merlin frowned at me. “You can understand him? He is not speaking your language.”

  “Understanding me and speaking my language are two very different things,” Ascelin said. “If you think about my words, focus very closely, do you recognize them?”

  “I don’t… what?”

  “Exactly. You don’t know what I’m saying. You understand it. You just think you know what I’m saying because your brain hasn’t realized yet that the words aren’t familiar to you.”

  “I’m lost.”

  “Not yet you aren’t. You will be later, though.”

  I didn’t have an answer to that, so I just handed him his ring.

  “Thank you. And, in return, here is the portal to Chromata.” He held out another folded letter.

  The ease with which he spoke, as if he had predicted everything that was happening, put me on edge. I took it cautiously.

  “Shake it off, young sorcerer; he has that effect on people.”

  “You can use the back room; it’s already set up for you.”

  I didn’t move, because there was something else I had to do. I just couldn’t remember what.

  “You have to send that letter to Mason and Thaddeus,” Merlin reminded me.

  I quickly wrote the letter, not bothering to reflect it because I wanted to be away from Ascelin before he gave me some grave warning or demanded I go on a quest. Afterwards, I painted the portal as quickly as I could without messing up. Soon, we appeared in the black-and-white world. I realized then that I really disliked Ascelin.

  It was night and other than a single bright moon and a few softly glowing windows, there was no light. Merlin’s theory on why the town (and possibly the entire world) was black-and-white was that the paint had stolen all of the color. Thus, it made sense that we could return the color with the magic paint.

  I pulled out the jar of paint, uncorked it, and spilled it onto the ground. Nothing happened as the paint flowed in a thick line towards the center of the town.

  It was at that point that the wizard and the wolf realized the paint was fake.

  “Oh, no, not you again.”

  Said the young wizard, who had been wearing a dress just a few days before.

  “It doesn’t matter if the paint is fake, because the Painter is dead.”

  Instead of agreeing with me, the voice laughed malevolently. I shivered.

  * * *

  Once we were back on Caldaca, Merlin and I gathered Mason, Gideon, Sotis, Koufax, and Kenja together in Magnus’s castle. We dragged Merlin’s bed into the throne room, since it had plenty of open space. Then Merlin and I switched and Merlin set the Syrus at the foot of the bed. The inscription was in a language I couldn’t read, but he seemed discouraged by it.

  When he opened it, smoke spilled out and formed Nimue. She was bleeding out, crying with pain, and reaching for Merlin’s hand. He gave her his left hand and put his right hand on her chest. Everyone around put one of their hands on her and got to work trying to heal her.

  Colorful lights flashed, blood stopped flowing, and she stopped coughing. I felt a surge of relief that she was going to survive.

  “It’s not enough,” Koufax said. “What was she stabbed with?”

  “A dagger.”

  “Not one of this world.”

  “Stop talking and heal her!” Merlin snapped. Their interlocked hands were deathly white and smeared with blood.

  I wasn’t helpless. I was a wolf and without magic, but I wasn’t powerless.

  I felt Merlin’s desperation and let it overcome me. I’d experienced a similar desperation to heal before, so I drew on that. The sensation inside me built until it burst out through Merlin. “Kvikr!” he demanded.

  Blinding white light shrouded her, throwing everyone back, including Merlin. Before they could gather their wits, Nimue sat up, gasping for breath and trying to wipe the blood away from her mouth.

  She spotted Merlin at the same time blood spilled across his chest. She fell out of the bed as if her legs couldn’t support her and then crawled into Merlin’s arms. I took a step towards Merlin, knowing I needed to help him, and nearly slipped.

  Confused, I looked down and saw blood pooling. Only when I saw it did I feel the pain in my chest. And then I remembered what Merlin had told me when I last healed him; there was always a price for magic.

  * * *

  I was in pain for a very long time. My dreams were full of attacks where my chest was being torn open by monsters. Sometimes I was so hot I thought I was burning, sometimes I was so cold I couldn’t feel my limbs. Several times, I was so disconnected from my body that I believed I was a ghost.

  Merlin’s mind was more focused than mine. It was like he was dreamwalking. He was in the crystal caves, entertaining himself through the pain with books. I tried to find clarity in his mind, but I was lost. I had no idea what was happening to me or if I was going to live. I didn’t know why I was still alive.

  And then I woke. It was bright; my window was open. My chest felt numb, which was not a good feeling at all. I opened my eyes, surprised to see a stranger sitting in the chair next to me. He was middle-aged, with an average build, dark brown hair, and extremely green eyes. Even though he wasn’t from Caldaca, I could tell he was a compassionate person, possibly by the kindness I saw in his eyes. “Who are you?” I asked.

  He smiled. “A doctor. Magic cannot heal all wounds. You’ll live, but you’re going to be in a world of pain when your meds wear off.”

  “What’s a doctor?”

  “A doctor is a mage from another world with better equipment.”

  “Is Merlin awake?”

  “Not yet, but he will be soon.”

  “What happened?”

  “You and Merlin healed a mortal wound without the proper training. Fortunately, the damage was split between you. You need to be careful. No matter how powerful you get, there will always be someone out there who can knock you down. The more powerful you get, the more attention you draw to yourself. Try to get more sleep, and you need to stay in bed for a week.”

  “Thank you.”

  He patted me lightly on the shoulder. “Thank you for finding my daughter’s cat.” And then he vanished with a flash of light. I thought no person could be more powerful than a dragon. It turned out I was wrong, and Merlin and I were starting to get the attention of some people we really didn’t want to get involved with.

  “I think I’ve gone mad.”

  “We all have,” Merlin said, lifting his head and taking in our surroundings. Nimue was sitting in the chair on the other side of my bed, asleep. “We have somehow dodged another bullet. How long before our luck runs out?”

  “What’s a bullet?”

  “I can sense Mason, Thaddeus, and Kalyn in the house as well,” he said, ignoring my question.

  “Merlin, I know we have worse things to worry about, but I keep having nightmares that Baltezore isn’t gone. I thought I would be having them about the Painter now. In fact, that would reassure me that they’re just dreams.”

  “You have nothing to fear, Ayden. He is gone. You must let it go or it will drive you insane.”

  “But I can’t shake the feeling that we’re missing something. I replay that last battle with Baltezore in my mind every day. I dream it.”

  “I know.”

  “You feel it, too?”

  “No, I mean that I know what it is.”

  “What is it?”

  “Let it go.”

  “I can’t! He’s coming back! I don’t know how or why or when but I can’t let it go b
ecause I’m constantly expecting him to jump out of the dark and kill me. What do you know?”

  “It will not help you.”

  “Please. I need to know.”

  He sighed. “You are so stubborn. Baltezore combined one of his hearts with one of his mate’s, thereby creating a source of power so great that it could resurrect her.”

  “Yes.”

  “Then he hid it for its own protection and used Gadiel’s second heart as his galaxy stone.”

  “Right.”

  “What is there to stop it from being used to resurrect Baltezore?”

  “Oh, no.”

  “There is more.”

  “Tell me.”

  “Are you absolutely certain?”

  “I have to know.”

  “The portal in Gmork’s castle, the one in his magic room… I had seen it once before in a book.”

  He was giving me information in pieces to allow me a chance to back out. “What book?”

  “One of Baltezore’s grimoires.”

  “What world?”

  “Raksel.”

  “Baltezore’s home world?”

  “Yes. I believe Gmork knows where the heart is and might be planning to resurrect Baltezore.”

  “How? Even Baltezore didn’t have the power to resurrect Gadiel.”

  “That is the point exactly.”

  “Huh?”

  “Baltezore could not do it without the power from the ancient dragon, so he had a backup plan.”

  “But he died.”

  “That was his backup plan.”

  “What?”

  “Gmork was always extremely intelligent, and he was also heavily into necromancy. I told you that if Gmork could go back in time to kill one person, it would have catastrophic effects. I had underestimated the situation, however. If Gmork can go back to when Baltezore was alive, he could kill Baltezore. In doing so, every moment of time between then and now would unravel and be rewritten. This would create a paradox that few worlds would survive, but it would also generate enough power to resurrect an entire world of dragons.”