Knights of the Wizard (of Knights and Wizards Book 2)

by Gallant, A. J.

  Novels by A. J. Gallant

  Madman in the Mirror (A child is raised by a serial killer.)

  (Trilogy) Dracula: Hearts of Stone, Dracula: Hearts of Fire, Dracula: Hearts of Glory (Dracula is a good guy in this trilogy.)

  The Saucer Club (Four 12-year-olds get trapped inside a saucer)

  Destiny (An assassin’s paranormal story of love and hate.)

  Series Knights of the Dragon, Knights of the Wizard … (“Of Knights and Wizards.”)

  The Nature of Winter (photo book) (Scenes of Winter)

  “Of Knights and Wizards”

  KNIGHTS OF THE WIZARD

  A NOVEL BY

  A. J. Gallant

  ©Copyright 2014 A. J. Gallant

  All rights reserved

  No part of this novel may be reproduced, scanned or distributed in any printed or electronic form without permission. Purchase only authorized editions. This book is a work of fiction. Characters, names, incidents and places are either the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.

  The first novel of this series is Knights of the Dragon. http://www.amazon.com/Knights-Dragon-A-J-Gallant-ebook/dp/B00BIRAI5Q/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1382447111&sr=1-1&keywords=knights+of+the+dragon

  (Knights of the Wizard are the continuing stories originating from Knights of the Dragon. Marcus is working hard at becoming a first class wizard but he definitely has a lot to learn, and even Adorok’s spirit is becoming frustrated at his progress. Ash is an exceptional baby dragon that dreams about an evil grey dragon that will come out of the bowels of the earth that will be a danger to everyone.)

  “The noir hero is a knight in blood caked armor. He’s dirty and he does his best to deny the fact that he’s a hero the whole time.”

  Frank Miller

  “The battle begins before the enemy is at the gates, before the sword has been drawn; the knight having to vanquish his fear before facing the enemy.”

  A. J. Gallant

  Table of Contents

  ONE

  TWO

  THREE

  FOUR

  FIVE

  SIX

  SEVEN

  EIGHT

  NINE

  TEN

  ELEVEN

  TWELVE

  THIRTEEN

  FOURTEEN

  FIFTEEN

  SIXTEEN

  SEVENTEEN

  EIGHTEEN

  NINETEEN

  TWENTY

  TWENTY-ONE

  TWENTY-TWO

  TWENTY-THREE

  TWENTY-FOUR

  TWENTY FIVE

  TWENTY-SIX

  TWENTY-SEVEN

  TWENTY-EIGHT

  TWENTY-NINE

  THIRTY

  THIRTY-ONE

  THIRTY-TWO

  THIRTY-THREE

  THIRTY-FOUR

  THIRTY-FIVE

  THIRTY-SIX

  THIRTY-SEVEN

  THIRTY-EIGHT

  THIRTY-NINE

  FORTY

  FORTY-ONE

  FORTY-TWO

  FORTY-THREE

  FORTY-FOUR

  FORTY-FIVE

  FORTY-SIX

  FORTY-SEVEN

  FORTY EIGHT

  FORTY-NINE

  FIFTY

  FIFTY-ONE

  FIFTY-TWO

  FIFTY-THREE

  FIFTY-FOUR

  FIFTY-FIVE

  FIFTY-SIX

  FIFTY-SEVEN

  FIFTY-EIGHT

  FIFTY-NINE

  SIXTY

  SIXTY-ONE

  SIXTY-TWO

  SIXTY-THREE

  SIXTY-FOUR

  SIXTY-FIVE

  SIXTY-SIX

  SIXTY-SEVEN

  SIXTY EIGHT

  SIXTY-NINE

  SEVENTY

  SEVENTY-ONE

  SEVENTY-TWO

  SEVENTY-THREE

  SEVENTY-FOUR

  EPILOGUE

  A preview of Moon Diamond follows Knights of the Wizard.

  Zacharia, an ancient friend of Dracula’s, had an old Siamese cat named Moon Diamond who he loved dearly and kept animated with a piece of his soul. When Zacharia was killed something extraordinary happened, instead of his soul moving on to the land of the dead it went inside the cat and his spirit now shares control of the feline.

  The author would greatly appreciate you visiting his author page.

  http://albertttt.wix.com/agallant

  ONE

  THE EXPLOSION THREW MARCUS across the chamber and against the castle wall as if he’d been kicked by a horse. The impact loud and devastating, skin and bone against rock, breaking both the back of his skull and a bone in his neck and would have killed him had he not a natural protection against his own magic. The 13-year-old wizard had braced himself for a possible explosion, but it hadn’t done him any good, having been thrown with such force that it had been terrifying. His seemingly lifeless body remained on the floor for a time, but then his right leg twitched, returning him to consciousness.

  “Well, that didn’t work.”

  Face down on the floor he pushed himself onto his knees and then got up, feeling dizzy and knowing that something wasn’t right, in fact, something was terribly wrong. His neck was bent at an awkward angle, couldn’t hold it up because it was broken. But then the magic kicked in and he was instantly healed, his head snapped back into its proper position with a crunch. The most unpleasant sound the boy had ever heard but quite necessary. The stench of sulphur and the ground up rafflesia flower, which smelled a lot like rotting flesh, assaulted his nose, like being in a fetid dungeon.

  Adorok had made most of his enchantments look so easy, a little bit of this, a pinch of that and voila a successful spell, but for the young sorcerer nothing was simple. Marcus shuffled back and forth several times, the way Adorok used to pace when he was working on a spell that was giving him trouble, remembering the old wizard as he did so. He went over the spell in his mind, his cute face showing consternation wondering what exactly had gone wrong. He kicked the leg of the table in anger, bruising his big toe and then jumping around from the pain. “Why can’t I cast a proper spell? It’s maddening!”

  Marcus limped over to the window, pushed the hide aside and stared down at Stone teaching a prospective knight how to fight, four of them were out there for instruction as about a dozen others watched. It was great entertainment to observe Stone in action, his muscular arms wielding his sword as if it was part of him, his bare chest nicely defined. His ease of movement with such a heavy sword was impressive, his anticipation of their movements were excellent. His father had given him a wooden sword when he was two and had received a crack in the head from it.

  “If only I could be a knight like Stone instead of a stupid wizard.” His stupid sister was a knight for god sake. It was fun to watch Stone, but it didn’t get anything accomplished while doing so; staring down at the adept knight from the high castle window imagining it was him down there. He knew that there could be a point in time where the defense of Leeander could be solely on his shoulders, now that was a scary thought. In fact in was a regular nightmare of his.

  From what Marcus could see two of them definitely had some talent with a sword, especially the 14-year-old blond fellow named Cyrus though of course no match for Stone. But the other two were awkward and wouldn’t even be a challenge for a goat with a stick. The knight looked up at Marcus and acknowledged him with a nod, showing the boy a smile that said he knew another spell had failed; of course he had heard the explosion. Marcus believed that fate was leading him down the wrong path, especially with his lack of talent for being a wizar
d. The only thing he could accomplish was to conjure up an eagle, no shortage of eagles while he was around. The very first eagle had been exciting.

  “Some stupid wizard I am.” He sighed as he left the window, sitting on what had been Adorok’s chair. He missed Adorok now that he had passed from the land of the living, his brief conversations with his ghost just weren't the same. Marcus went through the small book from which he had cast the spell, going over the enchantment, several words were incomprehensible, he had guessed at them but had apparently gotten at least one of them wrong. But even the enchantments that he was sure he had gotten everything right didn’t work. There were lots of knights to teach others how to be a knight but no wizards around to help him, and stumbling with magic was both difficult and dangerous. His lack of success made him feel hopelessly inept, his confidence pounded down like a blacksmith hammering steel, and each unsuccessful enchantment making him feel that it was hopeless.

  A large rat ran across the floor heading for a hole in the far wall and when it paused he pointed at it angrily, a bolt of lightning exited from the end of his index finger striking it. The rat never knew what hit it, exploding with a pop, guts and fur flew everywhere, its tail hitting the boy, sticking momentarily to his forehead; he had not expected that, adding more distasteful odors to the chamber. Marcus would have to get someone to clean up the mess before it commenced to rot. He shook his head repeatedly, had felt the charge leaving his body but what if he had been pointing at a loved one, imagining his sister exploding with her guts all over the place. He pointed at the wall trying to produce another bolt but nothing happened. What was the stupid purpose of haphazard magic? He wouldn’t be any use to anyone, including himself.

  Marcus’s sister Alexa entered the chamber with a tin cup, handing the cup to her brother. She was beautiful, perhaps the prettiest in the entire kingdom but to Marcus she was simply a pest. “What the hell is that stink? Here taste this and tell me if it’s sweet enough.” Why Stone had married her was beyond him, although the baby was cute enough and the baby’s laugh made him laugh, although it would have been better had Abbey been a boy.

  The sorcerer took a drink and quickly spit it out because it was pure lemon juice, his mouth watered from the sour taste as Alexa laughed, immediately turning and leaving, giggling as she went. “That is not the least bit funny!”

  Marcus shook his head and tiny magical particles flew all over the room, never happened before, and the large oak table where he did his work started to float, hovering about a foot off the stone floor. “Now what?” He approached the table and pushed it down, but as soon as he released it up it went again, floating away as he pushed it, bumping lightly into the wall. “That’s just great!”

  He went over to the table, picking up the chicken leg that he had been eating earlier, flicking the dust off and finished it, throwing the bone out the window even though his father the king chastised him for doing it. Marcus pulled out the drawer and removed another of Adorok’s old books that was supposed to contain the most basic spells and went through it, getting desperate to have something work. He had even considered that being a boy and having smaller hands than Adorok, that when a spell called for a pinch he might have to add two instead of one but even that didn’t work. His father’s raven flew in through the window and onto the table, bringing with it another branch, the fourth one this week. The bird cocked its head at the floating table and then flew out the door and down the hall. Adorok had said that there should never be a door to this chamber so that excess magic could escape.

  Marcus took the branch and threw it out the window. “I am not building you a nest you stupid bird.”

  The boy soon discovered a fire spell in the book, two basic ingredients placed between two fingers and then snapped, sulphur and something called snapper dust. He’d never heard of it but after searching the shelves found a container that was almost half full of it. If this simple spell didn’t work perhaps he should just give up. He removed the bottle from the shelf and shook the ingredients, orange snapper dust was clearly marked on the label; pulling out the cork he smelled it, a flowery scent. He realized that it probably wasn’t a good idea to shake magical ingredients. Marcus got the sulphur and then mixed them together and placed them between a finger and his thumb and then snapped.

  Marcus’s hair caught on fire, screaming louder than he had ever screamed and jumping around wildly.

  TWO

  KING DARIUS WAS TALKING TO STONE in the courtyard when the sun was suddenly blocked; he looked up into the sky and the sight was unbelievable. A grey dragon was circling around and everyone commenced to run, the largest of all dragons and the meanest too. It was a huge beast and it began to spew multiple balls of fire; people were running and screaming before catching fire and turning to ash, nothing quite as terrible as a death scream. There was no holding back with a death cry, everything was put into it.

  Archers started to launch their arrows from the castle wall, many striking the monster but with no effect. Some arrows stuck while others simply bounced off. The dragon turned and pumped its mighty wings, the sound of it cutting through was terrifying, looking as though it was deliberately going to hit the castle. And hit the castle it did, causing it to come apart as if it was a bunch of rocks piled upon one another with no mortar to hold them together, crushing some people and burying others under the rubble. And then more horrible screams of people dying assaulting the king’s ears.

  The dragon landed in the courtyard with a mighty thump, shaking the ground and knocking the king off his feet. Stone attacked, sinking his sword into its side between the dragon’s scales but he was promptly bitten in two, Darius screamed at the sight of it. He loved Stone like a son.

  Adorok materialized out of thin air. “Darius run for cover!” He launched a poison spell at the dragon, but it had no effect.

  “Darius, wake up!” Adorok shouted.

  The dragon launched a ball of the reddest fire directly at the king; its heat was terrible as his skin commenced to burn, readying to release his own scream of death.

  “Wake up!”

  The king sat up in bed, his heart was racing and he was perspiring profusely. Thank goodness it had only been a dream.

  THREE

  FATE HAD AS MANY TWISTS AND TURNS as there were people. Every single time a person took a different path than they typically would it changed things, and not always for the better. Destiny had things up its sleeve, nasty things. It had been over two years since the Yurrosy had been altered, transformed into crows by Ash the baby dragon wizard, and people now felt safe. But there was a danger that was lurking on the horizon, dark clouds were brewing. Unseen forces were moving forward, unknown wizards were hard at work.

  Struggle shaped people like chisel shaped granite, transforming some but breaking others into pieces of their former selves. The tough and the resilient had always managed to flow with life’s carnage and probably always would. But gentler souls always suffered the most, unable to comprehend life’s harsh realities, always hoping for a better world that never seemed to come. Greedy Kings wanting more than their fair share was the cause of a lot of it. Children were always the most vulnerable, not able to understand why some could be so cruel, their little hands hopeless to fight back.

  Marcus had taken over Adorok’s chamber in the castle after his passing, after having been on an adventure that transformed him into a wizard, now complicating every single day. Being a wizard was not the smooth path that he thought it would have been, not that he would have ever believed that he would have become one. Magic appeared to be as complex as the inside of a dragon. When he closed his eyes at night an improper gesture with his hand could blow a hole in the castle wall, a sneeze had knocked down both Stone and his horse. One could laugh afterwards, but it was as scary as hell when it was happening.

  Marcus had had no aspirations to be a wizard even though he had imagined it a few times because of Adorok. Some of his spells had been incredible, but that small glowing glas
s ball had changed everything, transforming the boy. He couldn’t guess how powerful he was, but he knew that some people were now frightened of him, scared that he would accidentally cast a spell that was either irreversible or that would kill them outright. He didn’t have the option of not practising his magic because it leaked out of him like water out of an old bucket.

  Marcus knew that being an accomplished wizard might take a lifetime of learning, but his impatience was already getting the best of him. He wanted instant success, but already a year had passed and he didn’t think he had learned much of anything. None of Adorok’s spells had worked for him and so he had experimented with adding extra ingredients to spells with disastrous results, transforming one of the king’s guards into a goose for several weeks and almost getting him eaten when he escaped his chamber. He had also turned his father the king into a chicken for nearly a week, confirming to a lot of people that the boy was just too dangerous to have around. What was the point of having such magical ability if one couldn’t use it to one’s advantage? Marcus had tried hard to turn rocks into gold, transforming them into feathers instead, having launched himself more than a dozen feet in the air from the explosion. He was sure that he had followed that enchantment to the letter and yet it had been a resounding failure. What the hell was he doing so wrong?

  The boy blinked his blue eyes as he combed his shoulder length hair, finding a knot he pulled out a chunk; his face was young and handsome although now he had a cut over his left eyebrow and a scar on his ear from a spells gone awry. Outside the sun was just above the horizon although currently hidden behind a single cloud. The morning was new and fresh but his problems were of the old variety, how to properly cast a spell without blowing himself up. There were ingredients in the proper amounts to consider, correct pronunciation of words to be spoken and his wizard’s blood to be cast into the mix of some spells. It was nothing short of a nightmare. And for almost a week he had decided that he wasn’t going to be a wizard anymore, that he was simply going to ignore his abilities. But he sneezed in his sleep and knocked two of the crenellations off the top of the castle, killing one of the king’s best horses, a beautiful black destrier named Abizad. The horse never knew what hit him and Marcus had cried for days. He knew he had to get control of his abilities before he killed someone, but it was easier said than accomplished.