Zoran Chronicles Volume 1 A Dragon in Our Town (24 page)

            
“Er not really. Archmage?” he fumbled, trying to grasp where this was leading.

            
The General of Security said calmly, “No Duska has ever in the entire history of
the Federation of Planets achieved the status of Archmage. You have just joined together
two totally separate worlds, that of magic and that of the Duska. Potentially, Zoran, you
may well be the most powerful Duska to ever walk the sixteen planets!”

            
Zoran was impressed, “No one else has done this before?”

            
“None, sir. None. Mage status, yes many. Archmage status, only you. May you use
your power wisely.”

            
“I will sir. By the way, I have been meaning to ask you something. I have asked
Zdenka to marry me when we have finished our magical studies. I would like to ask your
permission to marry your daughter.”

            
For an instant, Zoran thought that he was going to have to keep Janos from
keeling over. He staggered a moment, before catching his breath. “Sir, it would be the
highest honor I could ever imagine for my daughter. Yes, yes, you have my permission,
though ought you choose another Duska instead?” Zoran found that he had to explain
the same thing to her father as he had to Zdenka.

            
Convinced that the marriage was indeed ideal and permissible, he asked, “Who
also knows? Since I am only finding out now, I presume you two have been keeping it a
secret from everyone, security reasons?”

            
“Yes sir.” He kept it short and to the point.

            
“Say, what are you two talking about? Dad’s face is nearly red!” Zdenka came over
to take her dad’s arm.

            
“I’ve just asked him for his permission to marry you, dear. He has agreed,” Zoran
explained. She immediately hugged and kissed her father, and he beamed, as any proud
father would.

            
“What’s all this fuss?” the Archmage, in particularly good humor said, as she
came close to the three.

            
“Okay, okay, I can take a hint,” Zoran said with a mischievous grin. In a loud
voice he called out, “Everyone, I, well we, have an important announcement to make.”
The room became silent. “Zdenka and I are going to be married as soon as we finish our
magical studies.”

            
Once more, their friends yelled and whistled. One by one their friends came to
shake their hands. Jarka said, “Well, it’s about time! We all had wagers on when Zoran
would get up the courage to ask you. I won the bet.” She grinned coyly.

            
“Tonight we celebrate; then tomorrow, it’s back to work, back to study,”
Archmage Nadia took advantage of the quiet. Fake moans echoed around the room,
followed by laughter.

            
That evening, while he was taking a much needed bath in the barrel, Lida made
mental contact with him.
Zoran. Zoran. You there, can you talk now? It’s important.

            
Yes, just taking a bath.

            
Good. Mom has died. Today. She was forlorn over Radek’s death. She took it
really hard. She jumped into the river, breaking through the ice. Took the guards all
day to find her and get her out. Zoran, everyone is dying around us!

            
Sad. Mom has not been all there for a long time, sis. How are you doing and
how’s Rayna taking it?

            
Oh, we are upset. We’ve been looking after her for the last couple of years as you
know. Still, crazy or not, we both loved her. She’s never been like dad.

            
I know. I loved mom too.

            
Dad’s taking it really hard. He’s talking of giving her the official Ceremony of
Passing at her funeral, you know, the super-formal send off for Duskas. It’s his right to
do that. He’s the Baron. That means many of our uncles, aunts, and cousins will be
coming to the funeral. It’s going to be held in three days at noon.

            
I ought to be there too.
Zoran knew that he really ought to pay his last respects to
his mother, particularly so, because she would be given the highest of honors, the
Ceremony of Passing. It would be an affront to everyone, if he were not present.

            
Oh Zoran, how Rayna and I long to see you, but it is far, far too dangerous.
Who knows what dad might try to do to you? You must not come! Oh, gotta go! Dad’s
on the warpath again!
She broke the connection abruptly. He hoped that she was not in
any kind of trouble.

Chapter 14 The Funeral of Baroness Katerina
Vladislov

“I know just how dangerous this is going to be,” Zoran was discussing his decision to go
to his mother’s funeral in two days with Janos, Nadia, and his team.

            
“Son, you don’t! Every assassin that ever accepted the assignment to kill you will
likely be there as well! Everyone would expect that you would show up for her Ceremony
of Passing. It’s a sure bet. Probably that is why the Baron is holding the ceremony — to
flush you out. Lord knows what the Baron will do when he sees you there! You know
that they will have every magical protection known to mages in operation. You couldn’t
even get away with a disguise. The instant you set foot back in Castle Dorumova,
everyone will know. Plus, even if somehow you survive, how can you return here without
revealing this location?”

            
“The last is easy. I’ll just return the same way that I came to Brn in the first place,
a way that cannot be tracked or traced. You are right about all the magical protections,
though. They’d cancel any magical disguise I chose to don.”

            
“I’d only feel better about it if we had a swarm of security men totally
surrounding you at all times,” Janos admitted.

            
“Look, this is a funeral ceremony,” Zoran protested.

            
Janos thrust his hands through his hair in utter frustration. He knew only too
well the deviousness, callousness, the wickedness of his old Baron. Nothing was sacred
when it came to the desires of that man. Zoran was still a boy without a clue of court
politics and treachery. “Son, think about the situation that the Baron is facing.” He knew
well not to use the word father to Zoran. “Put yourself in his mind set for a minute. He
must have an heir to his throne — that is paramount in his mind. For years he has
groomed Radek to step in and continue down the path he is carving. Suddenly, he finds
his heir and protégée gone. He looks at what remains, knowing well the traditions of the
Royal Houses. He has two choices, your older twin daughters or take the heat and
bypass their rights and choosing you.”

            
“He knows that you have fought against him and his methods since you were a
lad. You’ve even run away from home rather than go along with his policies and brutal
suppression of his people. Yet, in the back of his mind, a male heir is vastly superior to a
female heir. Why? The woman will marry and that husband will inevitably take over the
actual running of the planet. Which to choose? My money is that the Baron will make
one last attempt to convert you to his way of thinking and operating. Failing that, only
one choice is left to him. Do you realize what this must be, Zoran? Think lad, think!”

            
Zdenka listened in awe to her father’s speech. She had never heard him speak so
knowledgeable about the Court, the Houses, and their Politics before now. He was
talking about an entirely different world from what she knew. She didn’t like what she
was hearing very much at all. It sounded so utterly ruthless, devoid any freedom of
choice which she valued above all, the right to control your own destiny.

            
Zoran sighed, Janos was right. He was thinking only of himself and his desire to
say farewell to his mother, crazy as she had been. “Even if he tries to talk to me, you
know I am not going to submit to him, not ever.” He thought of his two sisters and
paled. “You think that he is going to try to force them to marry someone he’s picked to
succeed him?”

            
“I’ll wager everything that I own on that one, Zoran. Once he has committed
himself to that path, he will let nothing get in his way, not even his own daughters. I’m
sure that he would even kidnap one of them and ship her off to the man he’s picked to
succeed him, forcing her to marry him. He’d drug her to gain her acceptance. He’d do
anything to her so that his picked heir can then sit on his throne when he passes on. This
Ceremony of Passing is where something will happen so that he can secure his heir,
announcing it to all of the gathered Royalty. My money is on it. This so called funeral is
nothing but one giant intrigue, his chance to setup his new heir, not in honoring his
deceased wife, who he cared for about as much as he does a farmer’s pig!”

            
“He’ll meet with you, see that you cannot be swayed, order your execution, force
one of your sisters to marry his chosen man, and announce it to the gathered Houses,
making it a formal recognition. Neither you nor your sisters will be safe at this
ceremony. You simply must not go there.”

            
The mere mention of his sisters convinced Zoran that he had to go now, more
than ever. “I cannot abandon my sisters to this despot! I am going and that’s final. If
need be, I will rescue my sisters. What kind of a man would I be if I abandoned my own
sisters to him? No, I go and that’s final.”

            
“I’m going with you!” Zdenka said firmly and with conviction. “You need
protection.”

            
“Me too,” Bernard added. A chorus of “Me too’s” came from his other team
members.

            
Karel growled, “Where you go, Zoran, we go!”

            
“I cannot ask you to go. It’s far too dangerous; there’ll be assassins everywhere.
Besides, none of you know the castle layout. It will be totally unfamiliar territory. All of
you will be at a horrible disadvantage there. Janos knows the politics and intrigue and
deception that go on there. I really appreciate you all wanting to come with me, but it is
simply far too dangerous for you.”

            
“Look, Zoran, if one of us was in danger, wouldn’t you come to help us out?”
Zdenka asked him pointedly, her hands on either hip.

            
“Of course, but that’s different. I’m a Duska. I can handle myself in tight
situations.”

            
“Oh, so you think that just because you are a Duska and that we are not makes us
less of a person because of that, do you?” she fumed, knowing that she was hitting a sore
spot and that this was precisely why she was worried about marrying him. She was not a
Duska, never would be.

            
His face felt hot, really hot. “No! I don’t think less of you because you are not
Duska!”

            
“So it’s all right for a Duska to risk his life for one of us, but it is not all right for
one of us to risk their life for a Duska?” she retorted angrily. She was fuming and she
realized that they were having their first argument.

            
Zoran looked at her stunned. What was she saying? How was it okay for him to
risk everything for one of them and not allow them to do the same for him? Sheepishly,
Zoran said, “I’m being prejudiced aren’t I?”

            
Still with her hands defiantly on her hips, she retorted, “Yes you certainly are,
Zoran Vladislov!”

            
“You know what we say around Brn,” Bernard added rather bored with this whole
pointless discussion, “what is good for the stallion is good for the mare. I don’t see what
all this fuss is about. You would willingly help us in a crisis so why cannot we willingly
help you in a crisis?”

            
Zoran relented. “Look, any of you who want to come with me are welcome to do
so. However, if you would prefer not to come, I will not think any less of you for so
doing. This is likely to be very dangerous, and I cannot ask you to come with me into
such danger. Yet, if you want to, I will be grateful for your aid. Honestly, I don’t have a
clue about how to deal with this Ceremony and what may happen there.”