by Platt, S. P.
It was late afternoon when they had enough for they felt themselves tiring and so called it off. They mounted their dragons and were flown back to the deck close to the school. They are very careful for if the wizard seen them coming up and over onto the deck it would be it for them.
The dragons come up close to the deck Angel could just about touch it. They landed and gave their dragons a hug and told them they would be back tomorrow. They walked through and had to wait for the wizard who was on duty up in the tower was looking this way so they waited.
The wizard finely went allowing them to get to the wall between the decks and go down to their tunnel and back to their secret room. They didn’t stay long and soon found themselves in the meal hall with a plate full of goodies. Finding a seat close to a corner where they could talk. ‘Now that we can use magic from within the shield we should try it with the combined shield and see what it would be like. We never did try our magic out when we tried it so we will need to do it and soon.’ Having just finished her meal Shylyn stood up.
‘Are you ready to carry on with the book of Legends and see if there is more, I am hoping there is for we do need to know about them? Come on let’s go and read it’ Angel getting to his feet and the others followed.
They got up to their room and Maive went to fetch the book so she could carry on. They sat themselves down on their pillows and Maive began. ‘Ok, the one possible reason the Renegades went that way, were put forward by one of the great wizards of the day. He had been researching all information on the Renegades who are a nuisance. But they are loathed for what they do to their dragons and the way they do this. From the studies he looked at he found the Renegade will seal the dragon to himself with magic. The only way for the dragon to be free is for the Renegade Wizard to die. When that happens the spell is broken and the dragon can get away.’ she looked at the others and showed her disgust for the Renegades. ‘Scum’.
Angel, Shylyn and Medwin all nodded their heads at Maive as she spoke. They loved dragons so much they would give their lives for any dragon even the one the Renegade has under his control. They know this could very well happen when they try to free the dragon by killing the Renegade.
Maive looked at the others and back at the book. ‘Ok now we get back on to the reason this wizard thinks he knows why they are like this. As I was saying the great wizard had done a lot of digging into old books and stories handed down from father to son and mother to daughter. From what he picked up it would appear a long time in the past there was a great wizard who was very powerful and no one wizard was able to better him. This wizard was once good and started to do bad things, which come to the attention of the council of wizards of the time. They banded together and it took a full thirty powerful wizards to over power him, they then imprisoned him some where. They never told anybody where he was imprisoned and to this day he has never been found.’ Maive stopped as Angel spoke.
‘I wander if he might be the Dragon Mage that was mentioned in the other book. To take thirty wizards just to subdue him shows how powerful a wizard he was. From what we have heard there has not been anyone that powerful in our time or in the times we have read about.’ Angel nodded his head for Maive to carry on.
‘Now the book goes on about his followers and how they were so incensed at what the council had done they up and left. They took dragons with them and vowed they would find where he is imprisoned and release him, where upon he would get his revenge. That is all there is on the reason they do what they do, I wander if they still look for the great wizard?’ Maive stopped reading as she was getting tired.
Angel yawned as will and looked at how tried the others looked. ‘Come on I think it might be time to go to bed, we can carry on with the book another night.’
They all went up to bed knowing a little more on the Renegades but still wanting to know more. As Angel went up to bed Aura came into his mind. ‘Angel you would never put a spell like that on any of us would you? How could someone put a spell like that on anyone or dragon. They must be very evil to do something like that or have no feelings at all.’
‘We would never in all our days do anything like that, for it’s repulsive and I would rather die than do anything like that. Sleep well Aura and we will see you in the morning.
‘Angel you will free that dragon of the Renegade won’t you?’ Auras voice in his mind was fearful for the dragon of the Renegade.
‘We’ll free him for we could never sit by while letting that happen to a dragon when I promised him we would free him. Sleep peacefully and we will see you all tomorrow.’ Angel yawned and went to bed.
The following morning they arrive down at the meal hall for breakfast to find Gavrie waiting there for them. ‘Good morning, I think I will join you for breakfast then I can tell you what we are going to do this morning, so come along lets get a table and eat as I am hungry.’
They found a table and Gavrie started to tell them of their morning to come. ‘We are going to the portal class this morning where we are going to have a look at your sums on how many wizards to open a portal for the creatures to come through. So eat up and we'll go.’
Having finished they get to the portal class room, now this is a special room in that you can open small portals as it does require a lot of magic and wizards to open a larger one. They arrived to find the teacher wizard still there but just about to leave as they entered.
Gavrie greeted him and told him they would use his room for the morning as he did not need it. Gavrie ushered them in and closed the door sealing it with a special spell beside the door for that purpose.
Gavrie spoke as he did this. ‘I will seal us in here so no one can come in when a portal is opened.’
The room was large with seats going up four seats high and around in a half circle, with large open area just in front of the seats. The area in front of the steps was large enough to open small portals that would not let anything through. The four sat in the front row and Gavrie looked at them to see they were seated.
‘Now we are going to check your figures you gave me the other day as the council does not want to believe it would need that many. They also do not believe they could get that many creatures through. So here we are to work it out and then we will try and open a portal.’ Gavrie got out his books and came over to the group as he finished telling them of what the council thought of their idea.
Angels little group worked again on the figures and this time Gavrie was there every step of the way seeing how they come to their conclusion. He looked at their figures again and they still came out the same even with him checking.
Finely they were finished and Gavrie was happy with what they had done. They had shown how they had come to their figures and how many wizards it would take. Gavrie was going to try and open a portal but not to that world but another.
‘Ok we are going to open a portal to the size five wizards could do. That by the way will be us five here. If the figures are right we should be only able to open one the size that will fit into this room. Now let us weave the spell, as I will start with the pattern which is over there in that book. I want you to look at that book and study the pattern and when you are happy I want you to start helping me build the spell and open the portal?’ Gavrie started to weave the spell as he finished talking.
The four of them went over to the table and looked at the pattern and could see that it was complicated but they could do it. They went back to Gavrie and joined him in weaving the spell. They got faster and soon there was a large size portal standing in the middle of the area in front of the stage where Gavrie was.
The portal was large and covered the whole area of the class whose room was very big. This room was built for the propose of creating and opening portals. There are seats around half of the room leaving an area almost half again. This area was where the portals where opened giving them plenty of room to look and study portals.
The portal this day they opened was large and opened onto one of the planets they control. It
was what was called a safe portal, one used for studying how they are created. The portal looks like a very hazy frosty white that had a glow to the surface like a curtain between worlds, you just walk through and you are there.
The thing with portals is you need wizards there all the time to keep them open. You can’t open one and then just walk away; the portal has got to have the magic working it all the time. That is the only draw back to portals having the wizards available to keep it open.
The more wizards you have the bigger the portal but the shorter the time it can be kept open. This is the one thing on their side the Renegades have got about ten wizards to open the portal but it will only stay open for a very short time. But in that time they are able to bring through hundreds of the creatures.
The creatures seam to be collecting around an area the Renegades are opening and they seam to know where it is going to be opened. So every time the Renegades open portals, the creatures sense that and word goes out to the other creatures on the planet. The creatures that don’t come through at that portal then congregate and wait till the next one opens. In that time it gets around and the numbers are getting more every day.
The feeling is they need to find where the portals are being opened and try and stop them. The main problem is because the portal is only open for a very short time finding the portal before it closes again is hard, even if they find where the portal is opening, unless they can stop it being opened then creatures are going to get through.
They kept weaving the spell as it needed all the magic they could give it to hold it open. Portals are good things if you can keep them open but it was very hard as you have to keep renewing the pattern as the portal changed the spell so the wizard always needed to be around to keep renewing the pattern and keep the portal open.
They were going to do this now and see how long it was going to take to keep it open with them using their magic all the time keeping the portal open and in this one spot. After a short time the portal started to close and they did not have it in them to keep it open so Gavrie finely let it close and as it closed Angel, Medwin, Maive and Shylyn all collapsed on the flour as the portal spell took a lot out of them.
They had never felt so tired in all their lives for that portal took a lot of their magic to keep it open. Gavrie looked at them. ‘Well I think we can safely say your figures are very correct so we can now tell the council how many creatures will be coming through every time they open a portal. Maybe now they will try and send patrols out to sea to try and catch them unawares. Ok I think you can be excused for the rest of the day, Now go and get some food and I would advise you to get some more sleep, away you go.’
Contents
Beginnings
They headed off to the meal hall and found they were hungry and tired so got some food and went up and sat on the cushions and slept there by the window. They awoke late in the afternoon and Angel contacted Aura to let them know what had happened.
Aura could feel they were still very tried and asked if they wanted their magic to boost theirs and see if that might help revitalize them. Angel suddenly jumped up and smiled. ‘Yes Aura can I use your magic and see what happens?’
‘Yes, use as much as is needed you would do the same for me so does it.’ Aura felt a warm pleasant feeling of thanks as she agreed.
‘Here I go Aura, I will draw just enough to see what happens, and I think it will be just like when we use our magic together. Here I go.’ Angel had a really great feeling of pleasure as he thanked her.
Angel drew the magic slowly as they had not tried this before, as it was not quite like where they join their magic together. This time he was going to draw her magic into his magic paths and see if that will recharge them. He drew her magic into his magic paths and took it all the way to the very ends.
He found Aura did not notice any feeling out of place, it seamed natural for her to do this. As he drew the magic, Aura comes into his mind. ‘This feels right for our magic is working well together deep down where before we just drew the magic together to increase that size of a spell. It feels as if we could become one, it gives me feelings that are strange but they feel so good. How does it feel to you?’
'I find you’re right, your magic fits with mine and those feelings you talk about are very strange but as you said the feelings are so good. There I think that will be enough now I will let go of your magic and we will see what happens.’ Angel slowly released her magic.
The others in the mean time tried to figure out what Angel was doing. They could see he was in contact with Aura but was not able to find out what they were doing. Even their dragons did not know what Angel and Aura were up to. Just as they were about to give him a nudge Angel come out of it and looked at them.
Angel comes back to those around him and he looked at them with a smile on his face. He looked within himself and could see he felt good and the magic of Aura’s had done what he wanted it to do. He felt fantastic and again looked and smiled at his friends.
Medwin was the first to ask. ‘What have you done with that smile on your face it must be good?’
‘I feel really good, no tiredness, my magic feels good and strong. How does your magic feel?’ Angel asked as he needed to know if they had felt better with the rest they had just had.
‘I still feel as if I could sleep for another day. My magic feels really drab, that portal took so much of our magic I never knew what it felt like before to use so much magic.’ Shylyn had tried to pick herself up but was finding it hard.
‘What you need to do is draw magic from your dragons and let it flow through down as deep as you can. It will revitalize your magic and get us back to fighting fit again. I think next time when we need to open a portal again, we draw on our dragons so as to conserve our magic and not allow ourselves to get so low again. Now go sit and try it.’ Angel moved over to the cushions where they sat and watched as they draw the magic from their dragons.
Medwin, Shylyn and Maive all sat still as they drew the magic. Angel sat and looked at them as they did this and could see in their demeanour they started to look more alert as they draw the magic from their dragons. It was not long before they started to come out of it.
They looked at Angel and all had big smiles on their faces as the feeling of strength came back to them. The tiredness had left them and they felt as if they could open another portal right this minute. But they were still very hungry and said as much.
‘I feel hungry and we need to get some food right now. This feeling I got is really good, strange but good.’ Medwin looked to see if the others felt the same way as he did.
They all nodded and they went down to the meal hall to see if they could get anything to eat. Having just walked into the hall there was a voice from behind. ‘Well I see you are still hungry so I think I will join you as opening portals takes a lot out of all wizards so come on. I knew this morning that I was going to open portals today and so had the kitchen keep some food around ready for us.’ Gavrie smiled at them and headed into the meal hall and over to the kitchen.
They all followed him over to the door and walked into the kitchen and a table full of food. Their mouths watering they sat and started eating. There was no waiting, sitting down and grabbing a plate and filling it. They finished off more than they would normally and Gavrie noticed this. He knew they would be tried and hungry but to eat what they just did and they seam to be very alert. After opening and holding a portal open for as long as they did. They for their age had held open a portal of a large size and kept it open longer than any first year students.
He looked at them as they ate, not worrying about the amount they ate. I would normally eat half what they are just polishing off. The only reason they could be eating this much is if they were still using magic and after opening the portal this morning, they should be tired.
Others just a couple of years older than them when they have been given the same type of task to open and keep open a portal, have been so rung out they have slept
the rest of the day. But here these four are showing they have recovered far quicker than any others.
Yet when they left after the class, having opened a portal and keeping it open far longer than others, they come back down really hungry and bright eyed. They are finding some way of using their magic without feeling the energy drawing effects of it. They are getting a burst of strength somehow, but how, that’s what I would love to know.
Angel looked up at Gavrie to see him looking at them; he could see Gavrie had a look that would indicate they had done something wrong. ‘Is anything wrong, the way you are looking at us?’ As Angel asked, the others lifted their heads to see what Angel was talking about.
Gavrie sat there for a moment debating as to ask them where they are getting their extra energy from or just watch them and see what happens. He was not that concerned just yet as they had not done anything that would really hurt them but he would have to watch. Looking at Angel he could see Angel was getting worried so he had better tell them something or do something.
Angel was starting to get really worried and looked at his friends to find them starting to look the same way as he felt. Why is he looking at us that way and why doesn’t he say something. Have we done something wrong or does he suspect something. I will ask again. ‘Headmaster what is wrong?’
Gavrie seeing the worry in their faces decided to act quickly before he had them panicking. ‘No I was just looking at how you are eating so much and you look really full of energy. After that session with the portal you should be out for the day. It takes me at lest half a day to recover from one of these sessions.’ He looked at them and decided now was not the time to delve deeper into why they look so full of energy. ‘But you look full of energy?’
Angel looked at his friends and back at Gavrie seeing his face relaxing. ‘We are still tired but are very hungry as when we use magic that is what we find happens to us all the time, we know it’s normal to do this but it’s the amount we eat, is that normal?’