Zoran Chronicles Volume 1 A Dragon in Our Town (20 page)

            
“Thank you General Janos. I don’t have any idea how long it will take Brother Jiri
to actually get this Circle constructed. I suspect some time. Money ought not be an
object.”

            
“We have time then. What sir are your orders?” he asked formally.

            
“Come and look the situation over at the tower, if you are not familiar with it.
Make your own judgments on what number of security forces we ought to have. Pick
your own men, equip them as you see fit, train them as you desire. We have money
enough, within reason at this point. As soon as we have an estimate on the finishing
date, I’ll let you know. Probably we have at least six months before we need security in
full.”

            
“Completely my decisions? I am going to enjoy this service! Incredible difference
between you and your father, who left me with little or no choices at all in such matters.
I promise to do my very best. I want to finish up my little project here for my daughter.
I’ll head into Brn in a few days, if that is acceptable.”

            
“Absolutely.”

            
“What project, dad? You never told me about any project for me?” Zdenka was
suddenly quite curious.

            
“A little surprise for my lovely daughter, now a Mage. I will wait for the right time
to give you my little present, Mage Zdenka Lavos. Your mother would be so incredibly
proud of you dear. I know that I am the proudest father on Adapazan.”

            
She blushed again, but her curiosity went unquenched, which slightly annoyed
her. “What present? Daddy, come on, what present?” she pleaded and begged. Zoran
was glad it was not him who was offering her a present! At last the besieged man gave in.
How could any man resist her, Zoran wondered.

            
“Come on. I’ll show you. I’ve got a dozen done already. It was going to be a
surprise for when you graduated, but since you are now officially a Mage, I guess this is
as good a time as any. To the barn. I was working on them when you came.” While the
three strolled to the barn, Zdenka had her arm around her father, continually trying to
get him to walk faster, which he playfully refused to do.

            
Inside the barn, he handed her a beautifully handcrafted quiver of arrows. A
dozen arrows were already inside it. “I know that Mages can enchant magical weapons,
but I also know that those items must be of the finest quality. Each of these arrows meet
the highest standards. I ought to know. I am making you two dozen, enough to fill this
quiver. If you can then enchant them, you will have two dozen magical arrows on which
to fall back, should magic spells be insufficient.”

            
Both Zdenka and Zoran examined the shafts and tips. Indeed, he had done
excellent work. The tips were actually hunting style, that is, with two interlocking
planes, yielding a four razor sharp edges to pierce even the toughest armor when she
used her powerful longbow to propel them. Even if they were not enchanted, these were
a superb set of arrows. She hugged her dad and thanked him repeatedly.

            
“Now you two ought to get on with your magical training. You’ve wasted enough
time with an old man. Get going. I’ll head into Brn in a few days and leave word where I
will be staying,” he insisted.

            
“Okay, I want you to meet the other members of our team, including the dragon
twins. Is it all right if I have them come now to visit for a short while?” Zoran asked.

            
“Sure, I would love to meet the others who are part of Mage Zdenka’s team. It is
rare that anyone has a Mage team. Besides, I’d love to meet these golden dragons in
person. Few can ever say that they have talked with a dragon. It would be something to
tell my grandsons about, if I ever get any,” he teased Zdenka, who again blushed.

            
Two minutes later, five more teleported to her homestead. “Bernard, great to see
you again!” Janos shook his hand vigorously. Zdenka explained to the others that they
gotten their dog from Bernard. One by one, Zdenka introduced Karel, Jarka, Emil, and
Renata. The dragon twins were obvious, for the golden hue of their skin gave them away,
now that everyone knew that they were really dragons.

            
They even morphed back into their real forms for him, enjoying his lavish
attention. Zoran then explained to these five who Janos was; they had not made the
connection from their history lessons. Now that it was pointed out to them, all five
realized that Zoran had indeed picked an excellent man to become their General of
Security.

            
After chatting about their recent adventures, the five teleported back to the tower,
leaving Zdenka to say goodbye to her father. That done, Zoran, still holding her arm, led
her out onto the clearing before casting his spell. He whispered, “It is so peaceful here,
Zdenka. I can see why you love it here in this forest.”

            
“Yes, a kind of peace that is hard to find in bustling Brn. I really do miss it, but
our magic studies mostly fill my mind. The spells are getting so hard to learn aren’t
they?” she mused.

            
“Yes, they will only get harder. I supposed that we ought to get back.” Rather
reluctantly, Zoran teleported them back to the tower.

Chapter 10 News from Home

That night, Rayna made mental contact with Zoran.
Zoran! Dad’s back. All sorts of vital
news! Radek’s been badly burned! Golden dragons appeared — breathing fiery
brimstone — killing soldiers — burned Radek horribly!

            
Calm down, Rayna. That’s it, slow, deep breaths. Okay. Start at the beginning.

            
Dad came back a while ago. He had to Shadow Walk back, carrying Radek in
his arms. He said they were just about to take the last level of the Warlord Mikolas’
fortress, when out of nowhere these two golden colored dragons came flying up and
out of the basement level. They shot fire and flames from their mouths. Some said it
was more like lightning bolts, though I don’t know how anyone can mix up those two
effects. Thousands of troops were killed or badly injured, burns mostly. Radek was one
of them. He was badly burned. Gosh his face looks horrible. He’s at the healers now.

            
Then, somehow the whole southern forest around that fortress turned into
flames, blocking everyone’s retreat. However, the explosion which dad says was
supposed to bring the mountains down on him and all his men failed. It only blocked a
high mountain pass. We guess he got lucky on that one. His men are still trapped there
until the fires die down. It’s too big to be easily put out.

            
Dad says that he now controls Sholov Province. I asked him what is there. I got
a strange answer. He said empty villages and towns. When I asked him where did all
the people go, he shrugged and suggested they were all forced into the warlord’s army.
Zoran, are they really making children fight their wars now?

            
No, I highly doubt that, sis. Maybe the villagers fled. I know I would if I knew
the Baron’s army was coming to conquer the province. I’d rather move elsewhere than
live under the thumb of that despot. Probably all moved away, that’s all.
He didn’t
want to disclose the fact that he had been there or why. It was too risky, for Rayna might
let something accidentally slip.

            
I’m going to check on how Radek is doing. I’ll get back to you in a bit.

            
Although Radek was his brother, he felt little sympathy for him. Undoubtedly,
Radek had killed or ordered killed many brave men who were fighting for their freedom.
Zoran laid in his small bed and stared at the dark ceiling.
Am I really going to take on
dad and Radek? Someone has got to or this senseless killing will just continue until
there’s no people left that he doesn’t control their very lives.
Imagined images of
fighting his father and older brother floated through his consciousness. Such unnerved
him, could he actually fight either one?

            
Sometime later that night, Rayna made contact with him once more.
Radek is
recovering. He’s lost his right eye and his face will be badly scarred, the physicians
say. They are more worried about his fighting arm and legs. They say from now on, all
three may be terribly sensitive to both heat and cold. He’ll never be the fighter that he
used to be; they all agree on that.

            
Dad was furious and, Zoran, he beat the physician who told him that something
awful — broke his jaw and arm! I overheard him telling Archmage Milos to quadruple
his efforts to find you. I think dad wants to somehow have you replace Radek. I believe
that dad thinks he can somehow force you to be like Radek. Leda and I are becoming
afraid for your safety. We both know that you are never going to go along with him
and be like Radek, propagating his savagery on others. What are you going to do?

            
Nothing. No one knows where I am at and I intend for it to stay that way.
This
was all getting too close to home. Zoran desperately wanted to change the subject. How’s
mom? How’s she taking it?

            
Not too good. She’s been sitting beside him all this time. Leda finally got her to
go to bed; it’s late. Maybe mom will feel better in the morning. We can hope so. I’m
going to chat with Leda now. I heard her coming back. More later. Love you. Bye.

            
Love you too.

            
For some time, Zoran lay in his bed thinking. Could he be found? Could someone
find him here? Until now, he figured they wouldn’t be all that interested in finding him
and thus he was safe here. Now — now things had changed, if, and this was a big if, his
dad actually thought that he could somehow manipulate Zoran into stepping into
Radek’s shoes, becoming everything Zoran detested. If so, then his many Mages could
systematically visit every province looking for him. Yes, they could go invisible and hang
out around a town, looking and listening for any word of Zoran. He realized now that he
had been foolish to have kept his first name. He ought to have abandoned it too.
Hindsight can be a wonderful education, he mused, angry at his own foolishness.

            
For a few minutes, he considered going around to all those in Brn to whom he
had told his first name and casting a forget spell on them. He began tallying them up
and soon faced the utter futility of that. Far too many people had now crossed paths with
him.

            
He had visions of one of the Baron’s Mages coming to Brn, casting a disguise spell
on himself and making inquiries about Zoran. Have you seen a young lad now nineteen
with shoulder length brown hair and blue eyes that seemed to penetrate you? Oh, how
foolish not to have cut his hair, grown a long beard, anything so as not to resemble
himself.

            
“Hey, Zoran, time to rise!” Zdenka called to him through his door. Morning
already!

Chapter 11 More Studies

“Gosh, you look awful,” she commented when he joined her and his friends for
breakfast.

            
“Didn’t get much sleep,” he grumbled. “Radek was burned in the attack. My sister
talked with me last night. She believes that the Baron is going to redouble his efforts to
find me. I had nightmares about that, I guess.” He admitted the truth, well mostly.

            
“Despots will do that to you!” Karel growled angrily and stabbed another piece of
bacon.

            
Zoran was only too glad to enter the third floor study room, if only to gain solace
in studying. A slight musty odor permeated the room. Valuable scrolls holding advanced
spells beckoned to them all, and his team dove into their studies once more.

            
This time, the check lists they were given seemed vastly longer, much more to
study and digest. Zoran found solace in this, in that he didn’t have to think about the
future and what it might hold for him. Could he actually duel his father?

            
The spells were becoming far more complex to cast. Now they began to realize all
of this extra reading material was providing a solid framework, a reference base, which
would make the casting of the actual spell easier to handle. Bernard was exuberant when
he discovered that he could now Conjure Animals, that is, bring animals into existence,
even if their lifetimes were short lived. He was most impressed with their dedication to
fighting to protect him from danger.