Zoran Chronicles Volume 1 A Dragon in Our Town (25 page)

            
“Thank you, Zoran,” Zdenka finally relaxed. “Now then, you have two days at
most to get us all familiar with the castle and what’s where and the Court and all that.
Let’s get moving.”

            
Jarka, who had been silent this whole time, grinned. She was going to get her first
look inside a real baron’s castle, the ruler of a whole planet!

            
“We should begin by sketching maps of Castle Dorumova, Zoran. It’s been a long
time since I was there, plus I only saw a small portion of it,” Janos suggested. The two
set to work, hastily drawing out the layout.

            
They had just gotten a good start when Lida made frantic mental contact with
Zoran.
Zoran! Zoran! I got to talk to you! Help!

            
Lida! What’s wrong?

            
Dad! He’s forcing me to marry that pig Strom, you know, his ally Baron Bogdan
Clav’s son. Strom is worse than Radek ever was! You know I want to marry Leo.

            
What did he say, Lida?
Zoran’s mind was suddenly filled with hatred of his
father, picking on his own daughters like they were some cattle to sell.

            
He said that at the Ceremony, he will announce that I will be marrying Strom
Clav in the spring. If I do not do this, he swore that he would first assassinate Leo and
then if I still refused to marry Strom, he would assassinate me! Zoran, what am I to
do? I don’t want anything to happen to Leo! What am I to do? Please, help me.

            
Damn! Damn! Damn him to hell!

            
Should I tell Leo about what’s happening? I can Shadow Walk over to Castle
Matous. Can Uncle Milan protect us, do you think? But then will he try to make Rayna
marry Strom? What can I do, Zoran?

            
Hang on a second, sis. Let me think. I am coming to the funeral. I’ll be there to
help you out of this mess. Okay, I got it. Don’t do anything until I get there. Play along
with the bastard; at least don’t give him any reason to send out assassins to kill Leo. I
think you ought to tell Leo what is going on, but do not let him take any drastic
measures, not until he comes to the funeral with Uncle Milan and Aunt Marjeta. They
will certainly bring along a lot of security forces with them. That will help. When I get
there, we can meet and figure something out. Be brave Lida. We can figure something
out. Okay?

            
Okay, Zoran. Rayna has already told her fiancé, Stefan Pavel, about what’s
going on, just in case dad has me killed and goes after her next. He’s promised to bring
along a whole lot of extra security men.

            
Have Leo do that too. This whole Ceremony of Passing is nothing but a front for
the Baron to establish a new heir to his throne. You be careful, Lida. Don’t do anything
to provoke him, not until I am there, please. He is not above having you killed, Lida.

            
I know. I’m terrified of him, Zoran. He knows it too. I don’t know if I can bear it.
I’ll try. I’ll tell Leo now. Rayna sends her love. Hell, here he comes again. Gotta go.
She
abruptly broke the connection. White with anger, Zoran related to the others what his
sister had just told him. Only with difficulty was Janos able to get him back on making
sketches of the castle.

            
“You know, Zoran, that we have one edge over the Baron,” Karel said.

            
“What’s that?”

            
“None know that we will have four Archmages and three Mages in our group. We
can muster far more firepower than they will be expecting!” Karel was thinking ahead to
a battle. Zoran grinned; he was quite right. No matter what else the Baron had planned,
he did not know that he would be facing four Archmages and three Mages. Poor Milos
would be horribly outgunned, especially if Zoran’s uncles brought along their
Archmages as well.

            
“Say, what kind of clothes should we wear?” asked Jarka.

            
“Damn, I forgot about that,” Zoran realized another of his goofs. “Since it is to be
one of our major ceremonies, everyone will be wearing their most elegant suits and
dresses, black of course, but darn, really elegant clothes. We have nothing like that here
in Brn, from the little I’ve seen.”

            
“Well, we can’t go looking like we do now,” Jarka said with a coy smile. “Does
anyone besides Zoran know what these dresses and suits look like?” No one had a clue.

            
“I know, I will have my sisters round up something appropriate for us to wear
while we are there. It will give them something to occupy their minds, give them some
little relief from the Baron’s treachery. Er, I am afraid I don’t know a darn thing about
how to tell them our sizes and all that.”

            
“Men! Honestly, how can you be
so
ignorant?” Jarka teased him. “Leave that to
us.” She Summoned a tape measure. She and Zdenka began compiling a list of their
measurements. Then, she also measured the men’s waists, in seams, and so on. “Here,
send this to your sisters. This ought to be enough for a dressmaker and tailor.” He
grinned sheepishly and made contact with Rayna.

            
Who are these people that you are bringing here? Don’t you know that dad will
likely put out contracts on their lives as well?

            
They know the danger and are coming with me anyway. Okay, one is my fiancé.
You and Lida will get to meet her.

            
Oh Zoran! Wonderful news! Who is she? Tell me all about her! She must be one
fabulous woman to capture your heart! I wish mom were still here.
She again broke
down at the thought of her mother’s death. In spite of her mother’s mental illness, she
had loved her and did miss her, especially at times like this.

            
He allowed her some time to regain her composure.
Sorry, for security reasons, I
can’t tell you more now. I will when we get there in less than two days. Hang in there a
bit longer, sis. Love you.

            
Love you too. Bye.

            
“Okay, clothes arranged. Now here is the layout of our bedrooms, the only safe
sanctuaries we have in the castle, really. Every place else is under the Baron’s control,
and he has all sorts of monitoring spells in place. It is not safe to talk anywhere but
inside our private chambers.” He continued to outline the details that he could
remember of the castle and its defenses.

            
Just then Brother Jiri came to interrupt them. “Good news everyone. I had
another breakthrough with the Circle construction. If all goes well, it should be in
operation by Yuletide!” That was the last week of December, the traditional week of
winter festivities and celebrations. Only a few more weeks and Zoran could at long last
put a major damper on the Baron’s plans of planet-wide conquest!

            
Because there would be so many other guests in attendance, Zoran decided that
they would go the night before. This meant that he needed access to his own private
room, where they could stay, which meant that he had to have his old room available.
Again, he contacted Rayna and had her check on his room. Luck was with him; the
Baron had left it as he had left it. Presumably, the Baron still held out some faint hope
that Zoran would come to his senses and return to Castle Dorumova.

            
“The instant we teleport there, the Baron will know of my arrival. Because of all of
the arriving guests for the Ceremony of Passing, he will have to have lowered the
protection spells that prevents one from teleporting directly into his castle. However, he
certainly will have Alarm spells activated and in full force. He will undoubtedly be
notified the instant I arrive there. Be on your guard the entire time that we are there,
particularly so after the Baron finally has a meeting with me. After he makes his pitch
and I refuse him, the assassins will be turned lose on us all. It is not too late for any of
you to decline to come. I do understand; this is extremely dangerous.”

            
“I’ve packed my blades,” Jarka grinned.

            
“My sword is ready as are my spells. I aim to kick some butt!” Karel declared
hostilely.

            
“Okay, is everyone ready to go?” he asked. All six nodded. Zoran, holding hands
with Zdenka and the others in one long line, cast his teleport spell. Magic flashed, but
something unexpected happened.

            
As he visualized his destination point, his bedroom, he ran into an anti-magic
barrier, preventing him from arriving. He and his six team members found themselves
still standing right where they had been standing in their tower! “What went wrong?”
asked Zdenka, suddenly becoming worried.

            
“He does not want me to directly arrive in my own room, but in the common
teleport arrival location, where he undoubtedly has many security men waiting to take
me into custody. I must be cleverer than that. Give me a couple minutes, gang. There is
another way.”

            
He knew that he could Shadow Walk them all into his room, totally bypassing the
magical barrier. However, this the Baron also knew. Ah, the Baron was being clever. If
Zoran used his Duska Shadow Walk, then the priests could easily track from where he
had come. The Baron would now know where Zoran was staying. Clever Baron, Zoran
thought, but not clever enough. He concentrated on Uncle Milan and made contact.

            
Hi, Uncle. Zoran here. Can I ask a big favor of you? No questions asked?

            
Well, Zoran! This is a big surprise. How have you been? The Baron has been
relentless in his search for you. Clever of you to have remained hidden from his best
spies all this time.

            
Doing very well, Uncle Milan. I need a favor. I am going to mom’s Ceremony of
Passing, but I need to use your Circle of Ascension to get there. Can you lower your
protections there so I can teleport to your Circle and use it, please Uncle? That way,
the Baron will not be able to track me. I promise you that it will not lead him back to
your Circle. That’s how I escaped in the first place, via the Circle.

            
Sure nephew. Give me a minute to get the orders relayed. We will be there in an
hour ourselves. Leo has told me what the Baron is planning to do. We are bringing
along an additional fifty men. If need be, Leo will bring Lida back with us. Are you
with us in this?

            
Absolutely. Lida is in love with Leo. We cannot let the Baron force her to marry
that pig’s son. We can talk more in my room at the castle. Thank you, Uncle Milan. See
you in a while.

            
“It’s all set. Got to wait a couple of minutes for the protections to be lowered. I
will be Shadow Walking us there. Hold on tightly. Whatever you do, do not let go of the
person next to you. Jarka, take my other hand, Bernard, take hers. There we are evenly
balanced now. This will seem strange and highly disorienting to you. If you feel
nauseous, it will pass. Just trust in me. First, we will teleport to another Circle, my
uncle’s. I trust him. He will have lowered his many protections for us. Everyone ready?”
Zdenka took a deep breath. The teleport activated and they arrived in a dimly lit room,
deep within Castle Matous. On the floor were glowing, intertwining thread-like lines of
various colors that seemed to alter nearly continuously.

            
“Behold a Circle of Ascension,” Zoran announced.

            
“It radiates intense magic,” Jarka commented, mostly to herself. She realized that
almost no other people in the entire Federation of Planets, other than Duskas, ever saw
a real Circle of Ascension! She burned its image into her mind. The others had similar
thoughts. It was incredibly beautiful to view; one could stare for hours at the
shimmering, changing threads of light.

            
Zoran began to pace around the Circle, stepping on all of the threads. The room
disappeared, replaced with a strange black nothingness, a void. In the distance,
periodically a planet came into view and then disappeared, as Zoran followed and
mingled with the threads themselves, each of which led to a specific world within the
Federation. Only when he felt that he had sufficiently intertwined his path with the
sixteen threads did he finally focus on his destination, Adapazan and Castle Dorumova,
more specifically his own private room.