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

by A. J. Gallant

  “Marcus, can you come out here please?” Ryxa asked.

  “Father I shall return.”

  Outside in the courtyard Ryxa, Daganth and his sister were waiting patiently as Marcus and Raina approached with all of his golden knights close behind.

  Ryxa cleared her throat before she spoke. “Marcus I need to ask you a favor.”

  “What beautiful baby dragons!” said Raina.

  “Who is better looking?” asked Daganth. “Me or my sister?”

  Marcus climbed up on her back like he had done many times before. “For you Ryxa anything.”

  “Father I want you to climb up on my back.” Daganth was wiggling with excitement.

  “Can you make him stop calling me that?” Marcus wanted to tell Ryxa that it was embarrassing but decided against it.

  “If only I could,” said Ryxa. “He wants to stay here with you for a while.” She turned her head toward Marcus and showed him a pretentious smile.

  Daganth held his hand up to his face to block his mother from seeing what he was about to say to Marcus. “Forever,” he whispered.

  Ryxa shook her head. “Not forever just for a little while.”

  It was Daganth’s turn for him to shake his head. “For as many years as there are stars in the sky.” He turned to his sister. “I tried to count them but there are too many. I think I counted some of them twice.”

  Bahati giggled. “Silly dragon.”

  Marcus didn’t see any way that he could agree to such a proposition. “I would do just about anything for you Ryxa but a baby dragon’s place is with his mother.”

  “I of course tried to tell him that but he’s so stubborn. He said he won’t eat unless he gets to spend some time with you.” Ryxa felt Marcus slide off her back. “Come on Daganth we need to go home.”

  “I have been rejected by my own father.” And Daganth tried to show his saddest face but it wasn’t quite working. “Which face looks the saddest? This one or this one?”

  Marcus shrugged because to him they both looked the same. “Oh I suppose that you can stay for a week but then you have to go home.” He felt sorry for the poor confused dragon, obviously when he hardened his shell he must have inadvertently made the dragon believe that he was his father. It didn’t make a lot of sense but it was the only thing that he could come up with, but then again he had been dropped from quite a height and really shouldn’t have survived the fall.

  Ryxa took to the air and hovered. “I’ll bring him a pterocrit in a day or two.” She turned and took off with Bahati following close behind.

  Marcus remembered that he had to go back to destroy the staff but it was too late, she was too far away to hear him even if he shouted.

  “Dragon you don’t really believe that Marcus is your father?” asked Raina.

  Daganth nodded and then shook his head. “Yes and no.”

  Raina looked at Marcus and he shrugged, then she looked back at the dragon. “What does that mean?”

  Daganth pointed at Raina. “I’m ignoring you. What are we going to do today father?”

  Marcus stared up at Daganth and smiled. “Dragon you saved my life and I can never thank you enough.”

  Daganth was a little puzzled that Marcus couldn’t thank him enough, trying to sort through that in his head. “I had a feeling that you were in trouble father.”

  The father thing might be permanent and for the time being there was no point arguing with him. “I’m going back to bed to take a nap and then I’ve got some thinking to do.”

  “Okay I’ll just play out here. I think I’ll just fly around the kingdom to see what I can see.”

  The thought of him being responsible for a dragon was ridiculous. “Don’t get into any trouble. If you decide to go home you need to tell me before you go.”

  “Okay father.”

  Marcus felt like screaming at him to stop calling him father but he didn’t.

  CHAPTER SIXTY

  THE MORNING SKY APPEARED TO BE FOLLOWING CYRUS; the dark clouds gathering overhead were actually black in areas, some sort of unnatural happening was brewing. Cracks of thunder were so loud that he had to cover his ears, as if God were smashing two mountains together over his head. He had stopped to rest when he became aware that the sky was swirling above him, feeling like the world wasn’t quite right. In any manner the sky looked menacing.

  The air smelled fresh as if a heavy rain had just fallen but the ground was dry. Cyrus opened his eyes and discovered that he was flat on the ground only he couldn’t remember falling; he returned to his feet dusting himself off, then cocking his head slightly he listened, thought he heard something but wasn’t sure what. He looked around but couldn’t see anyone. His horse whinnied several times and was obviously nervous; it tried to pull away from him as he stroked its neck to calm it down, making Cyrus apprehensive. What was the animal sensing? The hair on Cyrus’s arms rose and just before a bolt of lightning struck, hitting him in the back of the head, killing the horse instantly and knocking him down.

  Cyrus opened his eyes and blinked several times, discovering that he was again flat on the ground and now it was raining quite hard. He tried hard to get up but couldn’t, reached out and felt his horse lying dead beside him and realized that a bolt of lightning had killed the animal and he was lucky to be alive. And again he was unable to raise himself as it started to pour.

  There were shadows inside the deluge, at least two of them and perhaps more, as one might observe indistinct figures in a heavy mist, close to one another he thought; he could hear their mumblings but couldn’t make out a single word. Cyrus felt so heavy, as if his horse was on top of him and for a third time he tried to rise but couldn’t. Might he actually be dead? Another bolt of lightning struck him, this time in the chest, the energy from the strike spreading out across the ground.

  “I’m still alive?” Cyrus coughed several times and smoke emerged from his lungs. He finally managed to sit up as the downpour had eased to a more moderate rain; he looked up and saw that the clouds had stopped circling. He wondered if he had not dreamt being struck by the bolts but as he coughed smoke was again emitted from his lungs, his vision was alternately out of focus and then back to normal. He gazed at his horse lying dead beside him, fixated on it for some time. If it was a dream he hoped he would wake up soon. He knew of no one that had ever survived a bolt of lightning. He estimated that Leeander was about a day’s walk from his location but in his frame of mind he couldn’t be sure about anything.

  Cyrus stood up, staggered and fell over his horse. He sat with his back against the animal waiting to see if he would regain some of his strength. He looked down at his left ankle and saw that he had a hole in it where the lightning had escaped from his body, in was red and raw and he could see the bone inside, a nasty looking wound. The peculiar thing was that it didn’t hurt as much as he thought it should. Cyrus felt compelled to blink rapidly and as he did so he could see words in a strange language, as if written on the inside of his eyelids, and only a single word was in his language.

  Healing?

  He looked at the word which also had strange scratching before it, much like a cat might randomly accomplish. Cyrus continued to concentrate on the words healing and abruptly he felt a lot better, in fact his ankle was miraculously restored and his vision had returned to normal as well. The clouds lightened rapidly and then dissipated completely as he watched. He wasn’t looking forward to the walk back to Leeander, not even sure why he was going back, except perhaps to see Raina’s beautiful face once again.

  Cyrus was walking wearily when he saw two soldiers on horseback heading in his direction but they didn’t look like they were from Leeander. One was dressed in chainmail armour carrying a shield and an axe, and the other had a sword on his side carrying a halberd and was wearing tanned leather, which was cheap and ineffective armour.

  “Are you out here without a steed?” said the warrior in chainmail.

  “My horse was killed by lightning.”

&n
bsp; “Killed by lightning?” said Falk. “There’s not a cloud in the sky. Have you taken ill?” He was eyeing the necklace around Cyrus’s neck.

  Cyrus realized that he shouldn’t have had the precious necklace visible for all to see. “A passing storm I guess.”

  Falk dismounted and hefted his axe. “Hand over the necklace and I’ll let you live or don’t and I’ll kill you and take it.”

  Cyrus pulled his sword and was going to teach the both of them a lesson they would never forget, but his right hand felt as if he had placed it in the fire, forcing him to drop his sword. Several round shapes of white hot metal left his hand and pierced his opponents armour. Falk blew apart in pieces; his left eyeball stuck to his friend’s left cheek, his entrails only now hitting the ground.

  “Sorcerer!” Steward screamed, turned and rode off as fast as he was able.

  Cyrus stared at his hand with his mouth agape.

  CHAPTER SIXTY-ONE

  Asher was carrying the Staff of Herding as he got into the back of the wagon with Kapano; he stared down at the hole in the ground, removing the protective spell, recovering some of the magic that they had used to create the enchantment. There wasn’t much room as they had all their belongings with them, at least the important stuff, including various ingredients and more than a dozen books of different sizes. It wasn’t good for their egos to have failed so miserably, especially where three were unable to defeat one, TarCranian wizard or not.

  They all agreed that because such a powerful wizard was aware of their location it simply wasn’t safe to remain in the tunnels. They were all disappointed that they weren’t able to get the staff to function but they would never give up on it, after all they had read about it in three different tomes. It was listed as one of the nine weapons that could change the world. They had been down in the tunnels so long that it felt like home, so it was hard to have to leave and a tear ran down Aewyn’s cheek, but life was full of changes both good and bad.

  “All right then that’s it,” said Aewyn, and with a wave of his right hand he created a blob of swirling energy that began to pull the cart and they headed north away from Leeander.

  CHAPTER SIXTY-TWO

  Something unnatural was brewing.

  Winds from every direction blew towards the volcano, creating small sections where dust was kicking up and blustering in tight circles. The ground bubbled up in several areas, throwing dirt quite a distance, and out of one hole giant pink spiders were expelled as they were simultaneously created, having wings they took to the air and flew off.

  Clouds were gathering and circling overhead, ripples were flowing through the clouds like waves on the ocean. Ecruos belched up a huge fiery tornado which travelled down the side of the volcano increasing in size as it went. The heat from the spinning fire scorched the earth and dropped a trail of lava as it leaked the fiery liquid, having been born out of the bowels of the earth it consumed the air itself, spiders had that hadn’t yet flown off simply died as they couldn’t breathe.

  Huge fiery monsters attempted to escape from the tornado but the rapid rotation pulled them back inside the vortex, their inhuman screams escaping, and hands with sharp black claws scratched at the air before returning to the whirlwind of fire. The beast in the flame was more than ten times the height of a human. The tornado made its way toward water and sank, producing a large amount of steam as it vanished.

  A dragon emerged from the throat of the volcano, a magical creature that was forged of flame from its head to the tip of its tail; its two black eyes looked around curiously as it hovered in place, the crackling of its flames cutting loudly through the air, overpowering the sound of its wings flapping. It cocked its head being confused by its sudden birth, attempting to make sense of its surroundings. It released an ungodly screech and then flew off.

  CHAPTER SIXTY-THREE

  ON THE HORSE OF HIS DEFEATED FOE Cyrus rode towards Leeander a little confused, his judgement fuzzy. Had he really been transformed into a sorcerer? He knew nothing of such things, nor did he know how to cast even the simplest of enchantments, and yet, somehow, he had managed to kill that ignoramus that had been after his precious necklace. It had been as if the magic inside him had a consciousness of its own.

  He halted and stared skyward. There appeared to be a ball of fire and it wasn’t dissipating, it was moving around strangely, so high that it was difficult to see exactly what it was. Whatever it was he had never seen anything like it. As it flew from west to east it descended somewhat and then he realized that it was actually a dragon that looked as though it was made of fire, he hoped it hadn’t noticed him.

  As Cyrus rode he felt peculiar, his body jerked to the left and then again further to the left and he fell off the horse, landing hard it knocked the wind out of him, he gasped noisily as he fought to take a breath. A dark shadow emerged from his body and then a second one appeared; they stood close to one another as they conversed but Cyrus could neither see nor hear the entities, and the shadow that had not been inside him took his turn forcing itself inside his body. He shuddered, then stood up confused, dusted himself off and rested as he stood beside the animal, finally mounting once again. What was he doing out here on this strange horse? Oh yes he was heading for Leeander.

  CHAPTER SIXTY-FOUR

  AFTER FLYING AROUND THE CASTLE and its surroundings for more than an hour Daganth could see another dragon approaching, small like him so he flew out to greet him. “I like your scales, the black and red.”

  Ash hovered as he saw that this dragon was also quite young. “My name is Ash. Is Marcus down there?”

  Daganth nodded. “He’s taking a nap.” He was going to say his father but was growing weary of trying to explain, especially since he didn’t understand it himself.

  Ash pumped his wings as he held himself in place. “I’ll fly down and wait. It’s important that I talk to him.”

  Stone was talking to Alexa in the courtyard and was not at all impressed to see yet another dragon touch down. “Marcus attracts dragons like flowers attract bees. What happens if one becomes annoyed with us? Imagine an attack from a dragon near the king.”

  Alexa hugged Stone. “I know it’s your duty to protect the kingdom but I think it’s wonderful to have dragons around, such beautiful animals.”

  “You won’t think it’s so wonderful when your behind is on fire.” He crossed his arms as he stared at the dragons.

  “I think it’s great to have dragons as friends.”

  Stone didn’t speak, still thinking of the danger they posed.

  Marcus and Raina exited from the castle hand in hand and were surprised to see the two dragons in the courtyard.

  “If that one calls me father I’m going to scream.” And he was serious.

  Raina laughed. “Be nice.”

  Ash flew as close as he dared and then waddled the rest of the way over to Marcus. “Are you the wizard?”

  “He is,” said Raina.

  Ash sniffed Marcus before he spoke. “I’m Ash also a wizard and I’ve been having terrible dreams about the source of magic.”

  Marcus scratched his head and didn’t like where this appeared to be going. He had had enough on his plate and was looking forward to some rest and then finding the time to conjure his very own castle. “What’s the source of magic?”

  “Do you know the Ecruos volcano?”

  “I’ve read about it,” said Marcus. “And I believe that I might have dreamt about it. Why?”

  “Well it’s blowing its top.”

  “Hello father,” said Daganth. He was happy just to be in Marcus’s presence.

  “That volcano is too far from Leeander to bother us.” Marcus had never seen a volcano erupt but he had read of such things and how they could cause much destruction.

  “It’s the source of magic!” said Ash.

  Marcus had never seen a dragon quite so excited and it was a little disturbing. “Yes you’ve said that but what does it mean?”

  Ash took a deep breath b
efore he spoke. “There are pockets of magic all over the place as it is and to add more magic to the world could be very dangerous.”

  “How so?” asked Raina.

  “Imagine all your crops turning into snakes or it raining rocks, big rocks. Imagine all horses turning into monsters so big that even dragons can’t kill them. The possibilities are endless and from what I’ve seen in my dreams disastrous.” Ash had an emotionally pained look in his eyes. “If it continues the world could be destroyed. Only magical things will exits and not in their current form. You or I could end up being a sea creature for the rest of our existence. Anything would be possible.”

  “Oh dear,” said Raina.

  Marcus shook his head as he thought. “What can we do about it?”

  “I’m not sure,” said Ash. “But in my dreams you are always with me when I approach the island. I believe my dreams are predictive in nature.”

  Marcus sighed. “I need to destroy a magical staff and then I could go with you to have a look. But how would we stop a volcano from erupting?”

  “I don’t know.” Ash turned and looked at Daganth. “Who’s your mother?”

  “My mother is Ryxa.”

  “Marcus,” said Ash. “I think we need to head for the volcano now, if everything is destroyed you will have no need to worry about a staff.”

  “He’s right,” Raina agreed. “You could fly on Ash’s back and I can fly on Daganth.”

  Marcus was sure it was a bad idea to let Raina tag along but he also knew that he had to choose his words delicately. “There’s dangerous magic involved Raina, and in an attempt to protect you it’s possible that I would be killed. I really don’t want to be unkind but I must insist that you stay here and you too Daganth.”