The Sorcerer's Quest (16 page)
The energy inside me finally broke and I felt like
all my bones, organs, blood, and skin were just going to burn away into ash. I
could feel the heartbeats of the dragon inside of me. My father told me they
had two hearts, but I had always thought that was just a myth.
The dragon opened its mouth wide and I expected fire
to emerge. It wasn’t fire, though. Blindingly bright lightning struck the
chimera and the poor creature crashed to the ground hard. It didn’t move again.
Unfortunately, I couldn’t move either. When the dragon used the lightning, I
felt like it was pulled through me into him. Every part of my body hurt so much
I couldn’t even breathe.
The dragon dragged the unresisting monster towards
the syrus and when it was close, the light of the chest reached out for the
smaller beast. The chimera seemed to dissolve into dust and was absorbed into
the syrus. Once the enemy was fully inside, the lid snapped shut and the lock
turned.
No longer needed, the dragon also vanished into dark
smoke, which then swirled around me faster and faster before flowing into the
crystal of my staff. Only then did my own energy return to me in great waves.
It felt cool and soothing against the heat left inside me. Like a dozen healing
potions at once, the internal damage caused by conjuring and controlling a
dragon was undone. I could breathe again.
I also collapsed because I was shaking so hard, but I
was alive. In fact, I felt kind of great. Bralyn stared at the spot where the
dragon had disappeared, a mixture of confusion and awe on his face. Merlin
nudged me in the arm, obviously concerned.
“I’m okay, I think. I just don’t have a clue what
happened.”
“
Check the dragon’s eye
.”
Somehow, I had managed to hold onto my staff and wand
the entire time, and now I had to pry my fingers open to let go. Carefully, as
my fingers were numb, I pulled the dragon’s eye out of my pocket and gaped. The
crystal was completely clear. I tried the breathing trick Merlin had taught me
to see the invisible castle, but it didn’t work; I couldn’t see the magic in
the crystal.
“
It is empty
,” Merlin said.
“What do you mean, empty?”
“
All of the magic that was inside it last night is
gone
.”
I was about to ask where it went, when I looked at my
staff. The crystal on my staff was now a deep, dark blue, but it reflected
shards of rainbow colors in the sunlight like an opal. “Please don’t tell me
that’s what I think it is.”
“
I believe so. It appears that your sorcerer’s
staff is now a dragon staff
.”
“Does that mean I can’t do sorcery anymore?” Not that
I could do it before.
“
No. I expect that it will produce the same magic,
except for when you summon a dragon. I suggest you find out exactly what it
does before you do any more conjuring
.”
“Speaking of…” I looked around for my monkey monster,
but it was gone. “Where’s my monkey?”
“
He vanished when your dragon took over in the
fight. He is probably healing
.”
“We did it!” Bralyn said, unaware and unconcerned
with mine and Merlin’s conversation.
“Yes, we trapped him. Now how are we supposed to trap
Magnus?” I asked, getting back to my feet. I had to use the staff to brace
myself on. They both thought for a moment. “If we open the syrus to trap Magnus
in it, will the monster escape?”
“
Yes. Only one soul can be trapped at a time
,”
Merlin answered.
Before any of us could come up with another idea, the
invisibility spell around the castle disappeared, the ground rumbled ominously,
and white magic wrapped around us, blocking out everything.
That’s it
?
We worked so hard to get here
and defeated the monster and now we’re caught
?
I even faced my brothers
!
When the light faded, we were in the throne room of a castle. It was a wizard’s
castle with absolutely no hint of dark magic.
And it was identical to Livia’s castle, right down to
the gold artwork.
Standing right in front of me was Magnus, the
greatest wizard of Caldaca. He was tall— taller than any person I had ever met,
but not like a troll. Although his white robes were thick, I could tell he was
quite thin, even to the point where I would call him frail. In fact, he was old
enough in appearance that he should have been taken care of by his children.
His hair and beard were as long and white as his robe, his eyes were the
lightest blue, and his wrinkles had wrinkles of their own. Then again, he was a
wizard, so there was no telling how old he really was.
Perhaps due to his fragile appearance or possibly out
of desperation, I thrust out my staff, an instant away from calling my
exhausted monkey to fight once more. Magnus was faster. A wizard staff, eerily
similar to mine, appeared in his hand. This staff was the same height and there
was a crystal at the top, but the wood was a little lighter, the sigils were
silver instead of gold, and the crystal was clear.
The wizard aimed his staff threateningly at mine and
pure white magic emerged. To my shock, it shielded him instead of attacking me.
I shouldn’t have been surprised, though; wizards never attacked first. “Wait,
Ayden!” he said.
That surprised me in a completely different way. “How
do you know my name?”
“I have been waiting for you since you left your
mother’s home. I watched your journey.”
I groaned. “You have a magic mirror like Livia, don’t
you?”
He frowned at me like I had insulted him. “Of course
not, Ayden. Only sorcerers have magic mirrors. I use magic to see through my
minion’s eyes.”
“Minion?”
“Yes, my minion, Fluffy.”
His minion appeared on his shoulder and I squeaked a
little. It was a fluffy black kitten with small bat wings. I didn’t know
whether to be awed by the cuteness or disturbed by the fact that this wizard
was watching me for days. “Why were you watching me? How did you know I was
coming?”
“A seer told me a long time ago that you would come.
I have waited patiently for you to rescue me.”
I felt something deep and cold settle in my stomach.
“To what?”
“To rescue me from the chimera that trapped me here
in my castle.”
“The chimera that what?”
“You came to rescue me, didn’t you? I was told by the
seers that a young man born of sorcerers with both dark and light magic would
come to help me when no one else was brave enough.”
Merlin and Bralyn looked at me, watching for my
reaction. I waited for the anger and horror to build up inside me, for my staff
to curse the wizard, for anything… and then I sighed. “Fine. Whatever. I give
up. I am the most pathetic sorcerer that has ever existed and whatever. I’ll be
a librarian.”
“Okay…” He frowned worriedly, as if he was no longer
sure of my mental health. I wasn’t too sure either anymore.
“If you’re the most powerful wizard of Caldaca, why were
you unable to fight the chimera?”
“Not even a wizard as powerful as me could do much
against a creature that was invulnerable to magic. And I’m glad you changed
your hair back to blond; the black didn’t suit you.”
“You’re taking this well,” Bralyn said to me. “Isn’t
your mother going to kill you?”
“Yes, if my brothers don’t first. They’re still
coming here.”
“Why would your brothers come here?” Magnus asked.
I gave him my best look of disbelief. “My mother sent
them to kill you. How could you not know that? Did you just spy on me and
completely disregard the six more powerful sorcerers who were also heading your
way?”
“Yes, of course. They weren’t important. They could
never have gotten rid of the chimera.”
“Why not?”
“Because as powerful as they are, they’re just
sorcerers. All they know how to use is their magic, and a chimera cannot be
defeated by magic.”
“Then you won’t have any trouble when they come to
fight you?” Bralyn asked.
“No matter how strong I am, they’re still six highly
trained sorcerers against one wizard.”
Bralyn and Merlin looked at me again and I just
sighed because it really shouldn’t have been surprising at all. It was like my
brothers knew this was coming all along. And maybe, somewhere deep inside, I
did as well. I didn’t want to hurt people, but I didn’t want to be a wizard,
either. For the first time, I considered that it was better for me to be good
at being me than a failure at being what everyone else wanted me to be.
That meant I was going to have to face my brothers
for good, and there was only one way I would come out of that alive; I had to
make it a fair fight. Wizard or not, Magnus would make a very strong ally, and
we had a common enemy. “I guess we need a plan then.”
“
A sorcerer would let Magnus face them alone to
try to kill off as many of his enemies as possible
,” Merlin advised.
I nodded. “Sorcerers aren’t known for teamwork.”
“We’re going to help?” Bralyn asked, looking a little
excited.
“That’s the only honorable way to do this, and the
best chance for all of us to make it out alive. I know my brothers better than
anyone.”
The main conflict we had to work through was the fact
that I refused to kill my brothers no matter how bad they were. Merlin had the
solution to this. While Magnus placed the proper stones and candles in the
courtyard in front of the castle, Merlin directed me on the final part of the
plan. I had bowls of ink, red and blue paint, and water. I painted sigils and
circles on the wooden floor of the castle’s main room, which Magnus had no
objection to whatsoever.
As I worked, I also asked Merlin to explain why the
crystal on my staff kept changing colors. Apparently, the staff had been
stained with the vileness of the people who had used it over the years. The
more white magic I used, the more pure it became. However, my magic wasn’t
entirely pure. When I stopped fighting the “neutral” magic inside me, the wand
and staff bonded completely. Now they could both do whatever magic I needed, but
the wand was more portable and the staff was more powerful. However, Merlin
didn’t know what the dragon’s eye that had fused into the crystal would do.
I asked Magnus if he knew anything about it. He said
he’d heard of the dragon’s eye crystals before, but what they actually did was
a closely-guarded secret of the dragon trainers. Unfortunately, other than my
father, I didn’t know any dragon trainers, and if it was so secret, the answer
wouldn’t be in just any old book.
Magnus said he already had suitable enchantments
embedded into the ground outside, which was why he transported us to him
instead of letting us walk through it. The stones and candles were apparently
to set the boundaries of the trap, because otherwise the magic would be too
wild. I was shocked that a wizard would have a trap in place just in case he
was attacked. That seemed so non-wizard-like to me, but when I expressed this
to Merlin, he gave me a blank stare.
It was sunset when my brothers arrived. I watched at
the window as they entered through the gates. Although I was careful to stay
out of sight, they were arrogant enough that they didn’t bother looking up. I
picked up my staff, focused on the presence of my monster, and pulled on that
sensation until he felt me calling him. My staff created blue magic that flowed
upward into the air. Out of that, the monkey monster formed and waited
patiently for my order. I was very happy that he seemed to have completely
recovered from the previous battle.
“Make sure my brothers gather in the castle yard and
shut the gates behind them.” As soon as the words were out of my mouth, the
monster flew out the window and swooped down, herding my brothers through the
gates. Only once they were all together in the open did they turn to fight the
creature, which had been my intention all along.
When nothing happened, confusion blossomed on their
faces. Even though I was far away, I could see their expressions, and I was so
pleased for that. The trap Magnus set was pretty much exactly like the one my
brothers used on me in Red Rock, except that it worked faster. Instead of
draining their magic, it stopped them from using it. If I were to kill them,
this would be the time and place to do it, but that was their way of doing
things.
That was the sorcerer way.
We all knew the plan. Merlin and Bralyn went outside
to fight. I could have turned them invisible, but the spell would have drained
off them as soon as they reached my brothers anyway. I didn’t worry; although
my brothers had swords and knew how to use them, they always relied on their
magic. Merlin may have been a wizard trapped in another form, but his wolf form
was huge with very sharp claws and teeth. Bralyn had an even greater advantage;
he trained his entire life for this kind of battle. Nobody was better with a
sword than a warrior.
Since my monkey had so recently been injured and I
had confidence in Merlin and Bralyn, I let my monster return to wherever it
stayed when it wasn’t called.
Magnus and I went to the main room just as Mikron and
Thaddeus did. I specifically instructed Merlin and Bralyn to go after my older
brothers first for this exact reason. As soon as they were inside, they closed
the door and flipped the iron latch into place to keep anyone from following
them. That was my brothers; each of them would sacrifice the others to save
himself. They spotted me at the same time. Thaddeus looked shocked to see me,
but Mikron glared angrily and said, “I knew you came to help the wizard. Mother
is going to kill you so painfully.”
Thaddeus grabbed the sleeve of Mikron’s sorcerer robe
to stop him from coming at me. “Wait, maybe he has an explanation.” He turned
to me and for the first time, there was concern in his eyes. Concern for me.
“Explain. Tell me you didn’t betray us.”
“Betray you? What do you call trying to kill me
numerous times in my life? You yourself tried to drown me when I was born.”
“Do you really think if I wanted to drown you, you
would still be alive? If I hadn’t held you underwater in that lake until Father
found us, Zeus would have killed you with a rock. It wasn’t my fault you were
blond. This,” he pointed from me to Magnus and back, “is betrayal. We’re
family; we fight each other, but you went to our enemy. You’re no longer
family.”
“I don’t want to be part of a family that drowns its
members.”
Mikron’s anger turned to pure hatred. “You’re
choosing to conspire with wizards?”
“There is one thing a sorcerer never does, and that
is lose. I would rather side with Magnus against you than go back to being your
target practice.”
“Ayden, you can’t turn back from this,” Thaddeus
said, almost pleadingly.
“What did you say to Zeus?” I asked.
“Come back to us and our brothers will never know. We
can defeat Magnus together.”
“They’ll never know?!” Mikron screeched. “I’m telling
Zeustrum!”
“No, you won’t,” Thaddeus said, giving him a look I
didn’t quite understand. Mikron did apparently, because he snapped his mouth
shut. “I can’t tell you things will change, but if you fight with us, you’ll
prove yourself to Mother. If you fight with the wizard, you can never return
home. Don’t choose this stranger over your family.”
“I’m not choosing Magnus over you; I’m choosing to do
what I feel is right over sorcery. I’ve made my choice, and now I’m giving you
one. Just you. You gave me the chance to run, so I’m returning the mercy. Run.
Run back home, run away, I don’t care. Just run from here. There’s a back door
right down that hall that leads to a forest. Our brothers will never know what
happened, and they’ll never be able to tell anyone.”
“You mean to kill them?”
“We have no mercy; we are sorcerers,” Mikron snarled.
“Stop talking,” I said. My magic reacted on its own
and faster than my brother could retaliate. Blue energy shot into him and his
lips sealed like Vactarus’s had. “That’s better.” Thaddeus looked shocked, but
also afraid. “This is your only chance. In a moment, Zeus and Bev are going to
burst through those doors and you’ll face the same fate as them. Run.”
He looked from me to Magnus before running into the
hall. I heard a back door open.
“Are you sure that was wise?” Magnus asked.
“No, but it was my choice. One act of mercy, followed
by five acts of revenge.”
Still mute, Mikron pulled out his wand and stomped
towards me in anger. Had he been intelligent at all, he would have used his
magic and stayed away from me, but Mikron was young and wanted to intimidate
me. He froze right in the middle of my painted designs and honest horror came
over his face.
He looked down at the designs and tried to step out
of the circle, but it was as if there was an invisible barrier keeping him in.
In fact, that was exactly what it was; a barrier from another world holding him
in place. Any magic he used would be reflected back into himself. I held my
staff outward and focused my energy into the sigils surrounding the circle.
When they glowed blue, Mikron panicked. “Wait! Aren’t you going to show me
mercy? I never tried to kill you!”
“No, you didn’t. You just beat me until I couldn’t
stand. This is merciful.”
Magnus’s magic joined mine and blazing white and blue
magic swirled around the circle like a tornado. Mikron vanished slowly and the
magic dispersed. I was merciful because I didn’t kill or even injure my
brother. Instead, Magnus and I sent him to a world where there was no magic,
where Mikron was just a man.
Right on time, the door burst open. Febarin entered,
bleeding, panting, and furious. He was even angrier when he saw me with Magnus.
He didn’t even demand an explanation; he just ran at Magnus with his sword
poised. Obviously, he hadn’t realized that he could use magic again.
Nevertheless, he ran right into my circle and slammed into the invisible
barrier. His sword clattered on the ground and he thrashed and punched the
barricade like a caged animal.
“What are you doing, Ayden?! Kill the wizard!”
Without a word, Magnus and I released our magic into
the circle and Febarin was still screaming obscenities when he vanished.
“Are you alright?” Magnus asked me, genuine concern
in his voice.
I nodded. “Three down, three to go.”
At that moment, Zeustrum, Bevras, Gibus, Merlin, and
Bralyn burst inside. Merlin and Zeustrum were doing hand-to-paw combat while
Gibus and Bralyn were dueling with swords. Bevras started for Magnus, but Gibus
broke away from the werebear to intercept Bevras. “Stay away from the circle,”
he warned. I groaned; Gibus always turned to curses; he would know a magical
trap when he saw one.
Bevras aimed his wand and shot black lightning at
Magnus. Magnus responded with a white shield of magic around him. He was a
wizard; he wouldn’t attack first, but that didn’t mean he wouldn’t strike back.
He retaliated with white lightning.
Bralyn shouted when the stone floor began crawling up
his legs. The stone was literally spreading as if it was alive, and Bralyn had
no idea how to counteract stone. “Shift!” I told him as I turned my focus on
helping Merlin. The wolf had bitten a good chunk out of Zeustrum’s right arm,
but my eldest brother was ambidextrous and took up his sword in his left hand
as if he had been born to it. My blue magic covered the blade of his sword and
made it grow heavier and heavier as he used it.
Magnus’s magic shielded me as Bevras shot some curse
at me. It reflected and hit Bralyn who was mauling Gibus. The bear convulsed in
pain and collapsed on top of Gibus. I knew it would be a matter of moments
before Gibus recovered. Bralyn was still breathing, but he shifted back into
his person form. He wasn’t that much smaller.
Magnus’s white magic wrapped around Bevras and tossed
him into the circle. “No!” Zeustrum yelled, abandoning his fight with Merlin to
save his twin. Merlin went after him and managed to wrestle him to the ground,
but he landed on the outer sigils. Zeus wasn’t dumb; he used his sword to
scrape two of the sigils even as Merlin was dragging him away. With the symbols
ruined, the circle lost its power. Bevras took Zeustrum’s place in fighting
Merlin and Zeustrum flung a spell at Magnus, which the wizard barely managed to
block with another shield.
“Repaint the seal!” Magnus said.
I used my magic to make myself invisible and my skin
impenetrable, and then grabbed the paints that had been left out of the way
beside the staircase. I had to dodge magic, fists, and teeth, but I made it
back to the circle without getting injured. Then I hesitated because I didn’t
remember what the correct sigils were. Suddenly the image of the symbols I had
painted appeared in my mind. I knew, somehow, that it was Merlin pushing the
memory into my head.
As I repainted the symbols, Magnus covered me from
Zeustrum’s attack. Only when I was done did I look up to see Gibus attacking
Magnus.
“
Get down
!” Merlin demanded. I did, covering
my still-wet symbols. An instant later, Gibus was shoved towards me, tripped
over me, and toppled to the ground inside the circle. None of us had seen
Bralyn rise. The warrior shifted back into a bear and tossed Zeus across the
room. Bevras tried to curse Bralyn, but Merlin caught Bevras’s wand in his
teeth and snapped it in half. Bev screamed in fury, which drew Zeus’s attention
to him. Zeus tried to get to him, but Bralyn blocked his path.
I picked up my staff, then Magnus and I activated the
circle once again. Gibus vanished inside the white and blue magic. I felt the
draw on my magic, but my heart was pumping hard enough I didn’t think I could
rest if I tried. Zeustrum shot lightning at Bralyn and the bear went down. He
was out of this fight.
Magnus engaged Zeustrum and I turned my efforts to
helping Merlin. Even though Bevras’s wand was broken, he could still do magic
and he still had his sword. Fortunately, Merlin seemed to have at least a
low-level resistance to magic. I raised my staff and purposefully didn’t think
of any curse in particular.
Attack
.
That never would have worked if I only had my wand.
This time, blue lightning struck my brother in the back. He tensed up and
collapsed in what looked like pure agony. If it was anyone else, even Zeustrum,
I would have felt pity. I still had scars from Bevras whipping me, though, so I
had no sympathy for him.
I barely saw the movement before heavy wings closed
over me. The monkey monster made a horrific cry of pain before vanishing. That
was when I saw Magnus on the ground. Zeustrum had attacked me and my monster
saved my life. I attacked Zeustrum and he was forced to put a shield over
himself, which gave Merlin enough time to drag Bevras towards the circle.
