Knight of the Sword (of Knights and Wizards Book 3)

by A. J. Gallant

  He closed and opened his eyes several times and then slept for almost two hours, his body recovering and adjusting, when he opened them again he felt better, not quite back to his old self but not too bad. The desire to blink rapidly was peculiar and as he did so words appeared in his head, in a strange language, and then a single sentence that he could actually read. It was like reading words in a dream while still awake. Might he be experiencing some vivid dream?

  Create a ball of wind? Yes No

  He stared at yes and then at no, when he did each word turned a bright orange. He understood it was strange but didn’t understand what exactly was happening. Cyrus concentrated on the yes and a small sphere appeared in his hand, white and opaque but it cleared as he stared at it; he could see tiny clouds swirling inside. Cyrus tossed it almost as a reflex, and when it hit the floor a powerful wind storm commenced, so strong that it threw the painting around the chamber destroying it, kicking up so much dust that he had to close his eyes, almost taking his breath away. The wind picked him up and threw him against the wall, bits of sand whipping so ferociously that it hurt his face, as if caught in a sand storm and then as quick as it had begun it stopped, leaving the air saturated with dust. Cyrus stumbled into the next chamber with his eyes practically closed, trying to clean his face.

  “How did I cast a spell? I must be dreaming.” There was a large rock in the wall that looked to be pushed in somewhat, and when he placed his weight against it the rock fell out, letting in the light from outside, the opening as wide as his arm. He crawled through the hole to the outside, dusting himself off as he stood up, his face still hurt from the blasting it had received. Cyrus picked up the false rock and placed it back where it had been, noticing how light it was. It certainly looked like a rock but was much too light to be a rock of that size, a secret way into the strange dwelling. Another thing that was peculiar was that he had gone down into the building, quite far down as he considered and yet he came out on ground level. Of course there was no making sense out of magic.

  Cyrus made his way around the building and found his horse just as he had left it, mounting it he stroked the side of its face; he paused as he touched his gold necklace with the blue sapphire and then rode heading back toward Leeander.

  CHAPTER FIFTY-SIX

  ASHER STARED DOWN AT MARCUS magically bound to the table and snoring lightly. He was oblivious to the conversation going on that might actually be the end of him. Aewyn paced as he considered the possible outcome of killing the boy. Might all three of them receive a burst of energy from his release into the great beyond? Could all three of them become TarCranian wizards? How special would that be? This might be the point in time that changed all of them; perhaps they were destined to be so much more than they were.

  Kapano looked pensive. “What if we kill him and it doesn’t work? What then would we do?” He adjusted himself in the chair being quite uncomfortable. “He is the king’s son.”

  Asher nodded as he considered. “Better that he be dead than awake. We could always search for another source. I know it could take a while but disposing of that wizard might just be the best course of action.”

  Kapano nodded and then scratched his face. “Even if we kill him there would still be power in that wand would there not?”

  Both Aewyn and Asher shrugged. There was no way to know what would happen when they killed him. Asher slapped at his cloak, knocking off a small spider and sending dust particles into the air.

  Aewyn shrugged again. “Not much is known about a TarCranian wizard. Probably a book exists somewhere but I have no idea where or if it really exists. The wand might cease to be when the boy dies, but it might not. It’s a predicament is what it is.”

  Aewyn nodded as he considered. “I say we kill him. He poses a danger to all of us.”

  “I agree,” said Asher.

  There was a period of silence as they all stared into each other’s eyes, shifting from one to the other. The inexperienced lad likely hadn’t created any protection spells yet, besides the best ones were difficult as hell to make. Kapano thought that it would be best to get an ordinary rope and strangle him; Asher preferred to plunge a dagger into his heart, maybe even making the dagger the most powerful weapon in existence; that would be extra wood on the fire.

  Kapano nodded as he looked into Asher’s beady dark brown eyes. “Get a rope and you and Aewyn can strangle him. We can only hope that his release of energy will power the staff.”

  While Asher went for the rope Kapano and Aewyn remained silent. Kapano knew that distasteful things had to be done occasionally; it was simply a part of life. Aewyn hoped that the wand wouldn’t destroy them as they killed Marcus; he never would have undertaking such a thing on his own but the others bolstered his bravado. Although Asher wasn’t gone long it seemed a lot longer as they looked intently at the prone wizard, realizing that he didn’t have much time remaining.

  “I have it,” said Asher as he entered the chamber, showing them a rope that was as long as he was tall.

  Aewyn stood up as he sighed. “Let’s get it over with I’m getting hungry.”

  Asher wrapped the rope around Marcus’s neck, leaving enough on each side for both of them to grab hold and they commenced to strangle him.

  CHAPTER FIFTY-SEVEN

  THE VOLCANO HAD ATTRACTED TWO BLACK DRAGONS, Bigfire and Screecher; brothers that were circling it out of curiosity, having visited the area many times in the past but never having seen it active before. Another dragon had informed them that the volcano might be getting ready to blow her top but neither had believed it until now. It was giving off a peculiar scent, sulfur yes but something else as well, what humans called pepper. They were tempted to fly straight over and have a look down but didn’t dare, just in case she picked that time to get angry.

  The mountain coughed up a huge chunk of burning rock; both dragons watched it as it rolled down to the base of the volcano, exploding and sending pieces of rock in all directions. Near the path it had taken down the mountain Screecher noticed that the earth was being disturbed from the inside as if someone or something was trying to break its way out. He flew down and watched to see what was going to appear, his guess was a giant mole, and then Bigfire flew down beside him to also have a look.

  “What do you see?” Bigfire asked.

  Screecher cocked his head as more earth was dislodged. “Something digs its way out, look.”

  “I see it.”

  Abruptly a hole was blown out sending rocks flying, one hitting Bigfire in the forehead as a pebble might strike a human. Although the hole was as large as a dragon what came out of it was small, about the size of a human. It walked on two legs and was so ugly that it was difficult to look at and had two ears sticking straight out of its head on both sides, green eyes with black pupils, wild looking grey hair that was sparse, lots of pointy teeth, long spindly fingers and was quite muscular. It looked like the ugliest boar had mated with a monkey.

  “What is that?” asked Bigfire. He thought he knew what the majority of creatures looked like but had never seen the likes, such a large amount of hideousness in a small package.

  Screech’s mouth hung open until he spoke. “I’ve never seen one before.”

  Bigfire watched as another one came out behind it. “Do you think they are just being created by the volcano? They say it’s the source of magic.”

  Screech noticed that the first one was now making eye contact with him and it wasn’t a welcoming look; it squatted down and dug into the earth, formed the soil into a small lump and hit him on his left leg with it, after a slight delay Screech fell over dead. Bigfire launched a huge burst of fire at them, trying to kill whatever the hell they were, and after the plume dissipated they remained unscathed. Weren’t many creatures that could stand up to fire like that. The dragon took to the air as they both started to dig into the ground simultaneously; Bigfire looked back as something hit him on the tail and he literally dropped dead falling from the sky.

 
CHAPTER FIFTY-EIGHT

  AEWYN AND ASHER pulled hard on the thick rope and even though it shouldn’t have it broke. They looked at one another and then both checked the rope, discovering that no reason existed for the rope to have come apart like it did. The boy must have had some sort of protective enchantment about him after all.”

  Asher pulled his dagger and plunged it into Marcus’s chest, the weapon shattered into a thousand fragments. He tapped the young sorcerer’s chest only to discover that he was as hard as rock. “The boy broke my dagger. My father gave me that when I was but a boy. Gonna get my enchanted sword that’ll kill the little bastard!”

  As Asher went looking for his sword Aewyn poked at the boy and hurt his finger. “Have we bitten off more than we can chew? What are you smiling at?”

  Kapano envisioned Asher and his sword. “Should Asher break his sword on the boy he’s going to take a bloody fit. He went through a lot to get that sword, lost his best friend in the process.”

  Aewyn nodded. “We know it well he won’t be quiet about it.”

  Asher returned with the glowing sword and it was a beauty, covered in red rubies and perfectly carved skulls. “Take this you little bastard.” He came down on Marcus’s throat with the sword and it broke in three pieces, all the rubies fell onto the floor and then vanished. “Nooooooooooo!”

  Daganth landed softly beside the enchanted door in the ground and sniffed, his mother touched down beside him and then his sister. The day was turning out to be humid and someone was cooking a pig somewhere to the south, the wind blew the scent past them. There was another scent in the air, or rather emerging from the ground, the smell of magic. It stank of an alcoholic scent but perhaps it was one of the ingredients in some concoction below ground; Ryxa thought that her little ones might actually be in danger and she had enough of that to last her a hundred years.

  Ryxa nudged Daganth to get him to stop sniffing the ground. “There’s magic here besides Marcus’s scent and we need to go home now. I like the boy a lot but I just found you and this is strong magic.”

  “I can smell him mother but he could be in big trouble.” Daganth wasn’t about to leave no matter what she said, bold thinking for such a little one.

  His sister sniffed the ground. “Mother all I smell is dust.” Bahati sneezed and a ball of fire exited through her nose warming her mother’s foot.

  She had to make a decision and she knew it wasn’t going to be a popular one for the little dragon. “I’m sorry Daganth but this is for your own good.” Ryxa grabbed him with both claws and flew off, having had more than enough excitement. “Come on Bahati keep up.”

  Daganth was mad, watching as the ground slipped further and further away, from this height he could see the two men roasting a pig on a spit far below, watching as they looked up at the three of them, not happy to see the dragons. His sister giggled at him, knowing that he was upset by his predicament. The baby dragon was preparing to make an attempt at escaping; he would use all his might at once to twist and try to break free because he just had to find his father. He pushed against her claws with all his strength and suddenly he was free; he turned and flew back towards the door.

  “Oh you little fire breathing weasel!” Ryxa hovered as she watched him rush back down to the strange door in the ground.

  “Mother what’s a weasel?”

  Daganth began to dig around the door, just beyond the enchantment, sending rocks and boulders flying behind him. In no time he was under ground and had come to a rock wall and immediately started to tear it apart as his mother again landed with his sister. A large boulder was tossed out landing near his sister. They had to admit that he was determined to find Marcus, and perhaps for some inexplicable reason he needed to be reunited with the boy.

  “Daganth please come out of there!” Ryxa pleaded.

  “Yeah come out of there!” his sister screamed.

  But the baby dragon had created a large enough hole in the tunnel for him to crawl in, and although he could fit his mother could not. Daganth made his way down the tunnel, it was tight but he managed it, all the while sniffing. He could smell that Marcus wasn’t very far now. The three wizards had heard the commotion of the tunnel’s rocks being removed, and now they saw the dragon coming around the corner; Kapano had the Staff of Herding in his hand as he pulled down the sconce a section of the floor opened up and they dropped down, and then the floor closed up again. Daganth was too big to fit although he considered that he might be able to break his way in. He stomped twice and the secret door let go, smashing down to the floor below, but when he looked down it was obvious that he would not be able to fit inside the smaller tunnel and so he spewed some fire, but when he didn’t hear any screaming he wasn’t sure if he had burned them or not.

  Daganth made his way into the room where Marcus was tied to the table, sniffing him vigorously; he discovered that he wasn’t dead but was unable to wake him, with his huge dragon teeth he carefully broke the magical binding.

  “Daganth get the hell out of there now!” Ryxa sounded far away but he could still hear his mother.

  “The hell out of there!” his sister reiterated.

  “You watch your language young dragon.”

  “Sorry mother.”

  As Daganth carried Marcus his deep sleep lightened somewhat, his wand flew into his hand and he instinctively closed his fingers around it. He was dreaming about a volcano erupting.

  Outside Ryxa was happy to see Marcus but also worried about the fact that Daganth wouldn’t listen to her, and about the wizard’s condition as she couldn’t wake him. “It looks like they’ve cast a powerful spell on him.”

  Daganth licked him, saturating him with his hot saliva. “Wake up father.”

  “Stop calling him that and stop licking him it isn’t doing any good.”

  “Yeah stop licking him,” said Bahati. “You don’t know where he’s been. Right mother?”

  “We’re connected mother.”

  Ryxa shook her head. “What does that mean?”

  Daganth shrugged. “Should we take him home?”

  “We’ll bring him to his father the king and hopefully he’ll wake up soon.”

  “When he wakes up I’m going to live with him.” Daganth smiled and nodded.

  Ryxa again shook her head, forcefully this this. “You are not going to live with him you silly dragon. You belong with us.”

  “Yeah,” said Bahati. “Silly dragon! What does silly mean again?”

  CHAPTER FIFTY-NINE

  ALEXA ARRIVED BACK IN LEEANDER on a sunny morning with Knightshade on the back of her horse and the knight of the sword following close behind. She had asked the sword’s protector of the swords abilities but he had refused to answer. They were attacked by several chickens on the way in, later they would discover that they had been niiwu transformed by the little dragon wizard. Merrill and Obed were tired but happy to have survived the ordeal and were definitely pleased to take their orders from Stone and the king once again. Although the princess was proficient with a sword she wasn’t so with battle tactics and proper reasoning for that matter, or at least that was Merrill’s opinion.

  Marcus was in the Great hall with his father and Stone; he was still a little woozy from the spell that had been put on him by the wizards but his magical essence had worked on it from the inside of his body, finally breaking him free. It had all seemed a lot like a long dream and as the reality of the situation was returning he knew that he had to go back to destroy the staff, no one was going to want to hear that.

  “Marcus,” said Darius. “While you were gone there was a dragon wizard here looking for you. Did he find you?”

  “That was Ash. Where did he go?”

  “He went off in search of you.”

  When Alexa entered she ran to Stone and they kissed passionately.

  Marcus crossed his arms. “Where’s Raina?”

  Raina ran in hugging and kissing Marcus, so happy that he was now fully awake. “How are you feeling?”


  “Almost back to my old self.” The wizard returned Raina’s kiss and touched her face.

  Berhtram flew in and received a piece of bread from the king and promptly flew out. “I thought that I might never see either of you ever again. Why do my words go unheeded from my own family?”

  After the princess beckoned a servant brought in Knightshade and he handed it to Alexa. “Stone I present to you Knightshade for the anniversary of your birth. It is now a magical weapon. Did I say that properly princess?”

  Stone had to admit to himself that it was a beautiful weapon and he remembered the stories about the valiant knight. “We’ll hang it up on the wall for all to see.”

  She was glad that Merrill and Obed weren’t there to see the expression on her face. “Did you not hear me? The weapon is enchanted. With magic spreading out as it is it only makes sense to carry such a weapon.”

  Stone had no intention of carrying a magical weapon but had to be tactful in his response. “What does it do? Will it make me invincible?”

  Alexa’s eyebrows furrowed. “Well I don’t actually know what it does. But it does glow and we went through hell to get it.” She felt silly not knowing what it did.

  The knight couldn’t resist. “So it’s a sconce then, it will light up my chamber.”

  Alexa immediately turned and departed the Great Hall without saying another word and Stone thought it likely that they would not be making love tonight, and so his words were now regretted. He would try out the sword in training just to show her that he was using it and hopefully that would at least appease her somewhat. He supposed it might come in handy in the dark but then again it would point to his exact position.

  Abbey, in donkey form, ran in one door and out the other. Movement up in the far window caught everyone’s attention; the sound of Ryxa flapping her huge wings was quite loud even through the thick castle wall.