Kazin's Quest: Book I of The Dragon Mage Trilogy (23 page)

After Andron left, they raised the plank and the Quinlan set sail for Sorcerer’s Island. During the voyage Kazin spotted several large ships laden with soldiers go past on their way to Arral. Kazin asked the captain what that was all about and Captain Bentack explained that there was a possibility of war in the north. The soldiers were gathering in preparation. Kazin thought back and realized that was what he was watching a few days ago from the Tower of the Stars.

After an uneventful journey, Kazin was dropped off on Sorcerer’s Isle. Things had not changed much since he left. Some apprentices were gathered in the square doing some magic spells. Those without the talent were being weeded out. It seemed like only yesterday that Kazin himself was among those apprentices. He had already come a long way.

Kazin donned his cloak and rings and entered the dark tower entrance. Instantly he was whisked into an inner chamber only accessible to master mages. Valdez was seated at a table nearby and was studying some papers. When he looked up and saw Kazin, he came over and embraced him with his one good arm. His other arm was still in a cast.

“Kazin! Thank goodness you’re still alive! Krendal told me about your ordeal. I was shocked that a prominent mage like Sandor could have done such a thing!”

“So was I,” said Kazin. “I didn’t see it until it was too late. Max died as a result.”

“Don’t blame yourself,” said Valdez. “You couldn’t have known. Come. Let’s go talk to Krendal.”

Krendal was addressing the other arch mages in a meeting when Valdez and Kazin entered. As soon as he saw Kazin he rose. “Good timing, Kazin. I know you’ve just arrived, but would you consent to an inquiry into your recent adventure? All of the arch mages are present and the sooner we get this over with, the better we’ll all feel later.”

“I—uh—sure, I guess,” said Kazin awkwardly. He wasn’t exactly prepared for this but, as Krendal said, the sooner this was over with, the better.

They gave him a seat and told him to start at the beginning. He explained his mission in more detail than he did with Benjamin in the Tower of the Stars. There were numerous questions, some of which had nothing to do with the mission, but finally he finished with the collapse of the dragon’s lair and Sandor’s insanity.

For some strange reason, he left out the part about picking up the orb and mounting it on his staff. Instead he explained that Sandor was driven insane just by looking at the orb and not being able to touch it. After that the cavern began to collapse of its own accord. The arch mages assumed the orb was destroyed in the cave-in. Kazin wanted to clarify this but he couldn’t speak of it. It was like trying to talk about the test. Another thing Kazin left out was the part about the page from the Book of Prophesy. He wanted to mention it but couldn’t.

Krendal sat back. “Now it’s my turn to tell a story. You may remember the day our Book of Prophesy wound up missing? The whole thing was probably my fault. When I found out two mages perfected the test, I went to our library and sought the ancient Book of Prophesy. I remembered having seen something about two mages perfecting the test in the same year. Some of you may remember that as well.” Several arch mages nodded. “After reading in my quarters for a while without success, I was called away for some ceremony preparations. I warded my door and desk drawers but took no other precautions. When I returned, the Book of Prophesy was gone. I was deliberating the possible theft when the two new master mages, Max and Kazin, reported to my chambers via the rings I gave them. It wasn’t until they left that it occurred to me that both had the means to steal the book!”

There was a murmur among the arch mages.

“I checked their rings,” continued Krendal, “and sure enough, one was very low in power. Lower than it should be. Oddly enough, both new mages had an alibi in the artifact room. Only a few mages had access to the boy’s rings, and one of them was Sandor. I kept my eye on him but he covered his guilt very well. It wasn’t until the absence of Kazin, Max, and Sandor a couple of days later that I knew something was up and one or all of them were the perpetrators. When I heard from master mage Benjamin at the Tower of the Stars several days later, my suspicions were confirmed. Sandor was acting exclusively on his own and his former pupils didn’t know until too late that they were being set up.” Krendal looked at Kazin. “Sorry about the interrogation, Kazin, but we had to be sure your intentions were fair on this unscheduled mission of yours.”

“I understand, Sir” said Kazin.

At this point they instructed Kazin to hand over Sandor’s magical items and staff. The arch mages studied the items carefully but nothing was out of the ordinary until Krendal picked up the black ring with the strange symbol on it.

“This ring,” said Krendal. “Does anyone know what this symbol stands for? It has three quarters of a circle etched into it. It’s almost like the rings the grey mages wear, only it’s smoky black instead of grey in colour, and the grey magic symbol is an accurate half circle, not this three-quarter circle.” He passed it to his left.

Each of the arch mages examined it in turn and all shook their heads. None had ever come across anything like it before.

“A strange magic is emanating from it,” said one mage as he handled the object. “It is not entirely black magic, nor is it white or grey. It seems to be a combination of all three.”

“I agree,” said Krendal. “It requires closer scrutiny. Fildamir, I leave it in your care. See if you and your underlings can decipher it.”

Fildamir, an older arch mage, nodded.

“The rest we will put into safe keeping until Sandor regains his sanity, if ever.” Krendal shifted his attention to Kazin. “Kazin, Max’s family has not yet been notified of his death. Would you like me to tell them the sad news, or would you prefer to do it yourself? I know you were fairly close.”

Kazin sighed. “It would be better if I told them. They might not take it so badly then.”

“Very well,” said Krendal. He lifted the fire protection talisman from Sandor’s pile. “It won’t make Max come back, but I hope this gift will help to ease their sorrow. They may sell it if they wish.” He gave it to Kazin.

“Thank you, Sir,” said Kazin.

“Is there anything you wish to add to this meeting, Kazin?” asked Krendal.

“Well, Sir,” said Kazin, “I don’t know if it’s important or not, but—well—.”

“Go on,” said Krendal gently.

“I encountered an unusual traveling companion,” said Kazin. “A dwarf. I know dwarves are known to exaggerate, but his story was somewhat alarming. Apparently in his travels in the mountain—he was a map maker by trade—he ran into some lizardmages conducting some kind of ritual. They were stealing the minds of prisoners—mostly dwarves—and controlling their bodies using some kind of staff with a skull mounted on top with glowing eyes. With the help of a minotaur, he rescued the prisoners and killed the lizardmage and his guards.

“Anyway,” continued Kazin, “when he got back home he told his king. The king investigated but found no evidence of this so-called battle. As a result, Harran—that’s the dwarf’s name—was banished from his kingdom for lying to his king and for helping the minotaur to escape—but that’s another story.”

Kazin paused. Silence hung in the air for a moment before Krendal spoke. “I have heard of dwarven map makers before. They are the elite navigators in the mountains. A crime must be serious indeed for a map maker to be banished from the dwarven realm. I can see why his king was upset, however. The dwarves banished the lizardmen from that part of the mountains many years ago. To imply that they have returned is a serious crime indeed. If the claim were false, the king acted justly.

“Another thing that doesn’t add up is the part about the minotaur. Perhaps the dwarf added a minotaur to his story to make his victory more palpable. Otherwise, nobody would believe him. As for freeing the minotaur from the dwarven realm, it follows that he would use it as an excuse for his banishment. Personally, I don’t believe a minotaur would survive a trip to the dwarven realm, let alone escape from it.”

The other mages in the room nodded in agreement.

“Nevertheless,” continued Krendal, “all myths are based on truths. It may very well be that the dwarf encountered lizardmages, and if he were captured by them, who knows what they may have planted in his brain? We would be wise to keep our eyes and ears open for similar stories or occurrences.”

“I agree,” said Valdez. “The minotaur threat in the north may be growing. If lizardmen are involved, we will have our hands full.”

“That brings me to our next subject,” said Krendal. “We’ve sent a good number of mages to the northeast to assist in a possible war. The mages manning this tower may be in adequate supply, but the other towers have a smaller than usual number of black mages available. Shanelle, see to it that the workload in the other towers is distributed evenly. I don’t want mages lying around half dead from exhaustion.”

“Wise precaution, Krendal,” said Shanelle. Shanelle was a dark-haired arch mage with a penetrating gaze. She smiled wickedly. “Some of those master mages need the exercise, anyway.” There was light chuckling at this.

“How go the artifact sales, Limbard?” asked Krendal, addressing another arch mage.

“Better than ever,” answered Limbard. “At this rate, we’ll have a surplus by the end of the year.”

“Very good,” said Krendal. “But don’t count your chickens before they hatch. This could be a very costly year if war breaks out.”

“Will it affect the support fund for those relying on our assistance?” asked another arch mage by the name of Noreen.

“Even if war breaks out, you’ll be O.K.,” said Limbard reassuringly.

“I think we should call on the clerics to increase their assistance in the north,” said Shanelle. “They have already sent some support, but the Tower of Strength has reported that it is inadequate should war break out.”

“They’ve said that before,” said Krendal. “However, I agree with them this time. If the minotaurs have lizardmen to back them up, the casualties will be high.”

“If the dwarf Kazin mentioned was telling the truth,” added Fildamir.

“We can’t afford to take chances,” said Krendal.

“Speaking of taking chances,” said Shanelle, “we can’t be sure if lizardmages are monitoring our messages to and from the other towers. I move that we use another method of communication.”

“Good point,” said Krendal. “Any suggestions?”

“We still have trained pigeons in the towers,” said Fildamir.

“It’s a much slower means of communication,” pointed out Valdez. “Pigeons often get killed or intercepted as well.”

“We’ll have to implement a code for the orbs,” said another unidentified arch mage. “To ensure the codes don’t get into the wrong hands, we need to send them via messengers. Once in place, we can use the orbs to communicate between the towers without the fear of being understood by the enemy.”

“Excellent idea,” said Krendal. “That way we can insure speed
and
secrecy of communications between the towers should an emergency arise.”

“The code must be implemented in all the towers to work,” added Valdez.

“Whom should we assign to transport the codes?” asked Noreen.

“We’ll take some master mages from the artifact room,” said Krendal.

“I nominate Jarad,” said Fildamir sarcastically. “He’s making very little headway on that super shield of his. A break will do him good.”

Krendal laughed. “He’s still working on that is he?”

“I nominate Kazin,” said Valdez. “After what he’s been through, that will be a pleasant change of pace!”

“Granted,” said Krendal, “as long as his destination is the Tower of Hope. I have a special assignment for him.”

“Which is?” prodded Valdez.

“I’d like him to borrow their Book of Prophesy and bring it back so we can make a copy for ourselves.” Krendal turned to Kazin. “Think you can handle that, son?”

“Yes, Sir,” answered Kazin eagerly.

“Why don’t they make a copy and then send it down to us?” asked Shanelle.

“They are hard pressed as it is with their own affairs,” said Krendal. “It was our loss and since we have the manpower, it should be up to us to make our own copy.”

Shanelle nodded.

“Very well,” continued Krendal. “Meldrin, how long until you can have those codes ready?”

A short arch mage who sat directly across from Krendal and had not spoken until now answered in a squeaky voice, “The codes will be ready by this time tomorrow.”

“Excellent. That settles it then,” said Krendal, rising. “Fildamir, by this time tomorrow, have your chosen mages assemble for messenger duty. Kazin, you can send our condolences to Max’s family. Then go and spend the rest of the night at home. However, this time I want you to show up at the tower first thing in the morning and wait for me to give you orders personally! If you receive instructions to the contrary, ignore them!”

“Yes, Sir,” answered Kazin.

They adjourned the meeting and Kazin was about to depart from the tower when Valdez stopped him.

“Kazin! I’ve got some information for you. There’s been some sort of fight at your neighbour’s farm the other day. The Takar residence, I believe. There was a skirmish and a fire. I don’t know all the details, but I thought you’d like to know. Be careful!”

“Thanks, Arch Mage Valdez,” said Kazin. He tried to maintain his calm but once he teleported over to Marral, he began to run. He couldn’t bear the thought of losing another friend.

Chapter 21

K
azin continued past Max’s house without stopping. That part was going to have to wait for now. When he came within sight of Sherman’s place, he was shocked at the sight. The front gate was torn off its hinges, and the barn was little more than a skeleton, most of it burned to the ground. Some cows were contentedly chewing hay under a lean-to not far away. The house appeared to be the only building undamaged.

Kazin ran up to the house and banged on the door. There was silence for a moment and suddenly the door swung open wide. In its place stood a large, fierce looking warrior wielding an enormous sword. Kazin was temporarily taken off guard.