Kazin's Quest: Book I of The Dragon Mage Trilogy (79 page)

“The fire sticks have been strategically placed in the outlying sectors of Marral,” continued Krendal, “and mages will be positioned there to help the townsfolk in the defence of the town. But even with these preparations, we will likely lose the town in a matter of hours. The enemy forces number greater than thirty thousand, and most of those troops are undead—not exactly our specialty. Fortunately, most of the people from the east have been evacuated to the city of Arral, and some have offered to stay and help defend Marral.”

Krendal cleared his throat. “Some of you will be sent to Arral to lend what support you can. You can use the portal to Warral and then rent horses and carts from there for your journey south. We chose that route since the enemy will not be in the vicinity to give you any trouble. If the enemy chooses to move south to attack Arral first, they will get more opposition than they bargained for. Arral will not fall easily.

“As for those selected to defend Marral,” continued Krendal, “we will hold out for as long as we can before pulling back. When defeat is imminent, we will have to destroy the fire stick factory and the town’s port before leaving. Those places are strategically valuable to the enemy, so don’t let them get their hands on them. The mages will withdraw to Sorcerer’s Island via the portal, and the civilians will board ships that stand ready to take them south to bolster Arral’s defences.”

Krendal took a deep breath. “One final thing. The Tower of Hope claims the enemy who attacked them had use of a magical ring, smoky in colour, and with three quarters of a circle etched into it. These rings are known to hold a magical power strong enough to eat away any magical shield, disintegrating it within minutes. The clerics and mages at the Tower of Hope reported using an interesting tactic to combat this weapon. While some of them held a magical shield in place, others stood poised to strike at the enemy with magic as soon as the shield collapsed. They bombarded the enemy with fireballs and lightning bolts until the shield raisers were ready to recreate their shield. If our enemies are equipped with these rings; and I assume they are; we will use the same strategy to fight them off. Remember to keep an eye out for chimeras when you use this tactic. The enemy is reported to have a few dozen of those creatures in their ranks, and they are ridden by mages.

“And beware!” admonished Krendal sternly. “If you encounter one of those smoky rings, destroy it at once! If worn, it will corrupt the mind and inevitably destroy you! We have had one of those rings in our possession here at the tower for some time now, but haven’t been able to figure it out. All we know is that the mage who originally wore it is now insane and bereft of his original magical power. Don’t allow yourself to end with the same fate!

“The fight before us is daunting,” admitted Krendal. “If we hold out long enough, the forces coming to our aid will be able to make enough of a difference to help us repel this ruthless enemy back to where it came from. Good luck!”

Krendal left the dais and looked up to lock eyes with Kazin. He paused in surprise for a moment and then came forward and shook the young mage’s hand.

“Welcome home, Kazin!” said Krendal. “You got here awfully fast!” Krendal turned to Milena and bowed gracefully. “Milena!”

Milena smiled and gave the old arch mage a hug. “Krendal. It’s an honour to meet you in person.”

“It is a shame it’s under such circumstances,” said Krendal wearily. The strain of the last few weeks was obvious in his eyes. Krendal quickly hid the fatigue and smiled, placing a hand on each of the mages’ shoulders. “Come! Let’s chat in my study! It’s far more comfortable in there.” He turned to Valdez. “Valdez, see to it that the mages are all certain of their assignments and know when to depart.”

“Yes, Sir,” said Valdez. He went to the back of the lecture hall where the last of the mages were just leaving.

*

Rubin slowed his pace and told Della and Perenia to go on ahead. They had just finished their inspection of the artifact shops, and the girls were eager to visit the herb and ointment shops. Rubin had little interest in herbs and chose to remain behind to sit by the mermaid fountain in the Square.

Several benches close to the food shops were occupied, but no one was near the fountain where Rubin was seated. He was alone.

The sailor looked up at the dismal grey sky and wondered if the clouds would shed water that night. It had rained hard in the west, but the clouds here looked just as ominous and threatening. His gaze drifted over to the mermaid fountain standing solitary in the late evening greyness. The mermaid had her hands extended as if to welcome him into the pool. Her frozen gaze encompassed him as though he were the one she sought.

Rubin chuckled dryly. “If you could really see me,” he said quietly, “you certainly wouldn’t be looking my way. I’m just a sailor with scars all over my body and one missing eye. I’m nothing much to look at.”

The sailor suddenly yearned to have his missing eye back. For him, the battle back at the Tower of Hope was an awkward situation. He constantly missed his opponents because his depth perception was out of kilter. The backup provided by the skink warriors had saved his hide many times. He wished he knew how his eye had been lost and how he had been washed up on shore miles from where he had fallen off the Lady of the Sea. It was a mystery that nagged at him constantly.

He rose and walked over to the statue, resting his arms on the stonework surrounding the pool. He looked down into the pool’s surface and saw his reflection mirrored there. His eyes stared back at him like two shining orbs.

Eyes? Rubin’s heart leaped. Quickly, he reached up to feel for his missing eye, but made contact with the patch instead. How could his eyes be reflected in the water when he wore a patch? He looked into the water again and this time saw his true reflection—one eye and one patch.

Inwardly Rubin was angry with himself for seeing the impossible. Tears of rage welled in his eye. His other eye was gone. There was nothing to be done about it. He could wish all he wanted. Rubin saw the glint of coins at the bottom of the pool and grunted. “Why not?” He withdrew a coin from his pouch, made a wish, and tossed it in. The coin flickered to the bottom to join the others. Nothing happened. He sighed. So much for the wish.

The sailor reached out to catch the water cascading from the mermaid’s breasts and washed his face. It would not do to be seen weeping in public. He blinked the water from his eye and reached out for some more water. Instead of water, however, he contacted someone’s hands.

Startled, he looked up to see that the mermaid statue was not a statue, but real!

She looked sadly down at him and squeezed his hands gently. “Do not lose heart, brave sailor,” she said softly. “One more difficult task lies ahead. When you have completed that task, you will be brought here and your wish will be granted.”

“Wh-what task?” asked Rubin. He still couldn’t believe his eye. Magic was at work here, he knew, but he couldn’t understand it. “What must I do?”

The mermaid let go of his hands and pointed at his key-shaped talisman. A bolt of blue light surged into it from her fingertips. The talisman felt warm against his chest. When that was done, the mermaid pointed at Rubin’s head. “Understand,” she murmured. Then a flash of light hit him in the face and he sagged to his knees.

When the bright light vanished, Rubin opened his eye. It was dark and he was in a graveyard. He looked at a torch-lit sign nearby which read, ‘Warral West End Cemetery’.

Rubin rose to his feet and sighed. He knew what to do. He took hold of his talisman and chanted some strange words he’d never heard before.

A scratching, swishing noise broke the stillness of the cemetery. Graves everywhere caved in. Dirt was thrown aside and white, skeletal bones emerged from the holes. One by one, countless skeletons and zombies rose from their interrupted slumber to stand before the sailor.

Rubin wasn’t surprised. In fact, he expected this. When all the skeletons and zombies stood ready, the sailor turned and left the cemetery for the empty streets beyond. The legion of undead followed.

The one-eyed sailor knew there was much work yet to be done. He had to visit many more cemeteries before the night was through. There was no time to waste…

Chapter 65

S
herman rode a borrowed horse as fast as he could to his parent’s farm. Dawn was just breaking as he reigned in beside the house and bounded up the stairs. He knocked and waited.

Ezra opened the door and her face registered shock and then pleasure at seeing her son for the first time in weeks.

“Sherman!” she exclaimed. She stepped forward and embraced her son. “It’s good to see you again!”

“Hi, Mom,” said Sherman.

Ezra let go of him and looked up into his face sternly. “You should have written! We were worried about you!”

“It was probably better that I didn’t,” said Sherman. “By letting you know where I was, I was giving away my location to those who were after me.”

“What do you mean?” asked Ezra.

“Who’s at the door?” said a voice from inside the house.

Sherman looked over his mother’s head. “Hi, Dad! Long time no see!”

“Sherman!” exclaimed Sam Takar. He strode forward and pumped his son’s hand. “I’m glad to see you’re safe and sound!”

“Of course,” said Sherman. “After all, I’m the Guardian, aren’t I?”

Mr. Takar’s face blanched and Ezra looked between the two uncertainly. “What? What’s going on? Sam?”

“I think we’d better go in and sit down in the living room,” said Sam. “I see that I’ve got some explaining to do.”

The trio entered the living room and Sherman and Ezra sat down.

Sam Takar remained standing and began to pace the room slowly with his hands clasped behind his back. “Maybe it will be easier to start at the beginning.” He stopped pacing and faced his wife and son.

“I came from a strange land,” began Sam. “It was a land north of here, well beyond the mountains. In that land, a queen reigned supreme. The queen’s brother, William, headed her personal guard. That position was called ‘Guardian’. It was traditional for the queen’s brother to hold this revered position.

“One day, a few months after her husband’s death, the queen’s children were kidnapped. William immediately went in pursuit of the kidnappers. He chose a few of the queen’s personal guard to go with him. I was one of the ones—um—selected.”

“You were with the queen’s personal guard?” asked Ezra.

Sam nodded.

“So that’s why you’re such a good fighter!” exclaimed Sherman.

Sam grinned sheepishly. “Let’s just say I was well trained. Anyway,” he continued, “William tracked the kidnappers to the Black Forest in the south. The Black Forest was forbidden territory because anyone entering it was almost never heard from again.”

“Did you enter it?” asked Sherman.

“We had to,” answered Sam. “It was our duty to bring back the queen’s children, and they were somewhere in that forest. We entered cautiously, but the trail of the kidnappers was impossible to follow. We searched for hours, and before we knew it, four of our number had disappeared mysteriously. We stayed close together after that.

“We were just beginning to lose all hope of finding the children when we heard what sounded like a baby’s cry. We headed for the sound and reached a clearing where the kidnappers were hiding. William charged the kidnappers, but was repelled by a magical barrier raised by a nearby mage. Members of the kidnappers surrounded William, and the rest of the home guard rallied to his side. The skirmish was fast and furious, but William was disabled by some kind of ‘slow’ magic and was slain. The home guard fought to the bitter end, but I didn’t see it happen because I was knocked unconscious by a blunt instrument.

“When I awoke,” continued Sam, “it was getting dark. Everyone around me was dead. There was no sign of the children, so I counted out the bodies of my fellow guards and determined that we had lost, although not by much. Any surviving kidnappers had taken the children deeper into the forest. I was charged with finding them and, since I had nothing to lose anyway, I looked for a trail where the kidnappers had possibly fled. I found one trail, almost overgrown, and followed it for a while. After a brief hike, I came across the body of the mage who had thwarted William’s rescue attempt. The mage was still barely alive; his eyes were closed and he breathed raggedly. His robe was torn and he had tears and scratches on his exposed chest. More importantly, he held in his lap a small, moving bundle. It was one of the queen’s children!

“Anyway,” continued Sam, “I tiptoed up to the mage and gently lifted the baby out of his lap. The mage opened his eyes but made no attempt to stop me. Whether that was because he didn’t want to or couldn’t, I don’t know. I turned to leave but the mage began to speak.”

“What did he say?” asked Sherman.

“He said: ‘It’s too late now. The queen and her brother are both dead. The baby is of no consequence now.’”

“What did he mean?” asked Ezra.

“I wasn’t sure at first,” said Sam. “I asked him who had hired him and why. He said the queen’s advisor hired him to take the children away, and use them to lure the queen’s brother into an ambush to be killed. With the queen’s brother dead, and her children lost, the advisor could advance his plans to take control of the palace for himself.”

“Wouldn’t the queen object?” asked Ezra. “Or was she dead too?”

“I don’t know,” said Sam. “I suspect the queen was under the advisor’s spell. The advisor was a spell caster. Either way, he had all the power. Anyhow, I tried to intimidate the mage, threatening to disrupt those plans by bringing the child back to the palace and telling the queen everything, but the mage laughed. He said the advisor would have me and the child killed before we could get back. Apparently some of the advisor’s supporters were waiting at the fringes of the forest just in case we succeeded in saving the children. Their orders were to kill everyone—including the children.”

“Monsters!” raged Ezra.

“Did you go back anyway?” asked Sherman.

“How could I?” asked Sam. “Fighting with a child in your arms is next to impossible! It would have been suicide!”