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

by Gallant, A. J.

  Chromos took several of the berries and flew off with them in the direction of the castle, making sure not to bite down too hard, lest he end up with the poison in him.

  King Darius entered his chamber with a cup of tea and several biscuits, taking a bite and then a sip of tea. Abbey ran in behind him giggling, carrying an empty leather pouch, jumping around and swatting at Darius. Abbey was two and the cutest girl in the kingdom, at least the king thought so. Darius placed his tea on the table and picked up his granddaughter, tossing her in the air and loving her infectious laugh.

  “Abbey, don’t you have any parents?”

  “No.”

  “Where’s your mother?”

  “Down there.” Abbey pointed straight down.

  “You know Abbey, at your age you shouldn’t be climbing all those stairs by yourself because you’re gonna fall and break your head. Do you want to have a broken head? Do you?”

  “No!”

  Darius kissed her and she squirmed to get down. “What are you gonna do with a broken head?”

  “Nuffin,” said Abbey.

  The king pushed his red robe aside so as to not get any tea on it and took a drink, then placing the white cup back down on his night table. Chromos flew in and was immediately attacked by Berhtram and the feathers were flying, but the crow somehow managed to drop one of the berries into the tea and then immediately flew off. Abbey picked up the cup and commenced to drink.

  THIRTEEN

  THE CASTLE IN THE DISTANCE was impressive looking, its spires reaching for the sky, surrounded by a moat with the mountains in the background; no kingdom surrounded it, empty space for miles. The previous king of Leeander had built it as a place to get away from it all but after he had been killed no one had occupied it, being a bit too remote, and now in a sense Marcus would be the king of his own castle, supposing he didn’t destroy it with an untoward spell.

  A crow appeared from off the rampart and flew away complaining.

  Marcus arrived at his new home with a dozen knights in tow and several servants; twelve knights that the king had insisted volunteer for the job. They brought carts of food and most of the magical ingredients and books that had belonged to Adorok, and the things that Marcus either needed or wanted with him. The boy looked handsome in his new crimson robe, and while entering the castle for the very first time sneezed because of all the dust and blew a large stone out of the back wall, not off to a good start. Most of the people with him felt like running away but wouldn’t, loyal to Darius.

  The nights were: Anton Darkford Percy

  Henry Bales Jason

  Borel John Thomas

  Quettin Patrick Hadrian

  After touring the castle Marcus decided the place was nice enough though might end up being a lonely place to live; he went back outside to sit on a large stone and mope as things were being carried into his new home away from home. The castle was being dusted and cleaned, several dead rats were removed, and tapestries were hung. All the castle’s fireplaces were being cleaned and lit, chasing away the spiders that had made a home in them. Marcus adjusted himself on the rock, looking dejected and not knowing how the hell he was supposed to get a handle on this magic thing because so far practice had not helped him one iota. Ultimately his destiny might find him alone at the castle, with all being scared to even approach.

  He noticed Adorok’s ghost standing by the entrance, watching and then he simply vanished; he was happy that he would still be around, thought he might be attached to Leeander. It was just about impossible to keep a positive frame of mind with nothing going his way.

  The sorcerer noticed a bird flying toward him in the distance, apparently carrying something, and then he saw the white feather and realized that it was his father’s raven Berhtram carrying yet another branch, dropping it at Marcus’s feet. The bird landed near the branch and CRRUCKED several times, cocking its head at the branch and then flew off as Marcus watched. He felt like throwing the stupid branch at the bird but decided against it, a bolt of lightning might manifest and kill his father’s precious raven. He remembered when his father had discovered Berhtram in a nest on the ground after a particularly nasty storm and how happy he had been to take care of it.

  “That stupid bird,” said Marcus to himself. “I guess he’s trying to get me to build him a nest or something. Father thinks he’s so smart but he’s not that smart.” And then he noticed a black horse in the distance, dust coming off its hoofs as it galloped and several knights took notice of it too. As the rider got closer Marcus realized that it was a beautiful young girl equipped with a bow and a quiver full of arrows on her back. It took time for her to reach the young wizard, but the closer she got the prettier she looked and he couldn’t take his eyes off her. He didn’t recognize her but she was something else.

  She rode up on a spirited black stallion. “I’m Raina,” she said after she dismounted. “Are you moving in here?” She examined Marcus and liked what she was seeing, believing him to be quite handsome.

  Marcus stared at her, his pupils expanding, his heart beating faster. Never had he observed anyone so beautiful, full lips and long blond hair. She had the most perfect face. “Yes, unfortunately.”

  She studied him and the stern looking knights, obviously someone of means. “Sometimes I hang out here. I’m from Linyth.” She smiled at him, definitely a mutual attraction as some of the knights watched and smiled.

  Marcus was staring at her breasts, not yet grown into adulthood he definitely didn’t have the best manners, as if he hadn’t been taught proper manners. They were such wonderful breasts, nice and full for a girl her age. Several knights gestured to one another to pay attention to what the boy was staring at. “I’ve been to Linyth several times with Stone but it was a long time ago.”

  Raina shook her head. “You know my face is up here.”

  Marcus felt like saying yes but your breasts are down there but he didn’t. “I’m Prince Marcus from Leeander.”

  He was the first wizard that she had ever seen. “Oh my goodness you’re the new wizard. Everyone’s talking about you. What’s it like being a wizard?”

  “Some wizard,” Thomas mumbled.

  Marcus glanced back at the knight that had disparaged him but quickly returned his attention to Raina. “It’s terrible; I’ve been banished from my own kingdom. None of my enchantments work properly. I’m about as useful as a horse with no legs.” He became aware of his eyes drifting back down to her breasts and corrected himself, now staring at her full lips.

  The knight Anton approached Raina. “I’ve afraid I’m going to have to ask you to leave miss, unless you fancy yourself being accidently transformed into a chicken or a rock or even a bale of hay. Please move along. The young and powerful wizard is very unstable. I am sure that you would not be happy to spend the rest of your existence as a rock.”

  Raina whispered into Marcus’s ear and then mounted her horse; he couldn’t get over how beautiful she was and he watched until she was completely out of sight, being annoyed that she had been chased off.

  “I believe Marcus is in love,” said Anton. The other knights laughed until the boy spoke.

  “How would you all like to be transformed into something nasty, and with my skills god only knows what you’d end up being? A cow patty perhaps?”

  They all became silent, realizing that teasing the boy was asking for trouble. Back home in Leeander several bets were already in place, how long before Marcus accidently killed one or all of his servants; no one gave them more than a week.

  A black dragon appeared in the sky and Marcus was happy to see that it was Ryxa, the knights not so much, and everyone watched as she dropped down with a thud a safe distance in front of him. “Ryxa, boy am I glad to see you.” He gave her a hug as best he could, a bit like trying to hug a mountain.

  “They told me that you had been, ah, sent off to this location.” Ryxa bent down so that he could climb on her back and then they took to the air.

  Marcus loved
the view from way up there, flying in and out of the clouds, people and horses appearing so tiny from thousands of feet up, and even the mighty Kassa River looked like a small brook. He could just barely make out Leeander in the far distance. He had been so frightened the first time he flew with her but now it was simply wonderful.

  The knights that were there to protect the prince didn’t like it one little bit that the dragon showed up but they were helpless to interfere, annoyed as he disappeared out of sight. Nothing they could do about the dragon, especially one that the prince had befriended; he would have to be responsible for himself when he flew off, besides who could mess with them.

  Quettin was a big fellow, the tallest of the group, angry he threw his mace on the ground and it landed with a thud. “The boy listens to no one. He’s a danger to all of us. Oh let’s eat.”

  Ryxa circled from the air as they searched for a pond that Raina had told him about, one that had three palm trees in a row, although they thought it should be easy to locate it wasn’t. More than an hour later they were still searching, it wasn’t supposed to have been too far away and yet they couldn’t find it.

  “Marcus, are you in love with this girl?” Ryxa asked.

  Marcus shook his head. “Certainly not I just met her. I don’t even know her. Why would you ask such a thing?”

  Ryxa smiled. “I can sense your excitement for her, from the tips of your toes to the top of your head.”

  “Well,” said the wizard, “I will admit that she is beautiful.”

  As they flew they saw hills and the occasional cottage, some people liked to live solitary lives, risking having to defend themselves against just about anything. They saw a small group of unfamiliar soldiers, nine in all and all on white horses; they were stopped and apparently trying to get their bearings, two of them pointing in different directions. Marcus noticed a black bear at the edge of a patch of forest, just sitting and looking. Seemed a little peculiar, perhaps a person that had been turned into a bear? The land was haphazard, with past sorcerers having transformed a lot of it, not unusual to find a patch of winter, a blizzard sitting less than a mile from the heat of a dessert.

  Marcus noticed to the west seven niiwu warriors attacking a single cottage, some taking hits from arrows being shot through the shutters, one fell dead with an arrow threw her heart, both of her heads lifting up one last time. They were throwing so many spears at the wooden door, splintering it to such a degree that they were sure to get in and once inside there would be no stopping them. Probably devour the occupants alive.

  “Ryxa look, that cottage is under attack; blast them with fire so they’ll leave that family alone!”

  Ryxa pumped her wings and then dove, as soon as she got in range she exhaled and produced great ball of fire, setting four of them on fire and killing them. The others ran, looking back and hoping they weren’t going to be pursued by the black dragon, they wouldn’t return to this area anytime soon. They knew there was no hope in besting a dragon.

  The front door opened and a skinny fellow with a bald head and a chicken bone through his nose appeared in the doorway and as he tried to close the door behind him it broke in two. “Wot’s this then? A lad flying on the back of a dragon? Why doesn’t the dragon eat yer?”

  “This is Ryxa she’s my friend.” Marcus jumped down off the dragon and could now see children peeking through the windows from inside the dwelling. A little blond haired girl waved meekly at him.

  “Yer gonna eat us then?”

  “Not going to eat anyone,” said Ryxa. “We’re hunting for a small pond that’s supposed to be nearby, with palm trees.”

  Alard pointed to the pond behind them, a ten minute walk from where they were standing. “Yer can’t see the pond from the air, magic do fool things.”

  “Oh okay.”

  Raina was sitting by the pond, tossing pebbles into it as Marcus flew in on the back of the black dragon and the look on her face was priceless. “You have a dragon? Oh my goodness she’s so beautiful.”

  Ryxa instantly liked her.

  “I don’t have a dragon,” said Marcus. “Ryxa is my friend I don’t own her. Now what was so important for me to meet you here?”

  Raina approached Marcus and stood staring into his blue eyes, making him uncomfortable being so close. “A few miles from my kingdom lives a hermit named Tavarot, an ancient one that has been around for a long long time. He’s a scholar and knows many things about many things and he might know why your magic isn’t working properly. He’s so old that he doesn’t even remember his own age.”

  Marcus laughed. “If he can’t remember his own age how do you think he’s going to help me?”

  Raina looked up at Ryxa’s huge head. “He knows lots of other things. Anyway everyone believes he’s smart so it must be true. It’s not a sign of weakness to seek help.”

  “Hello,” said Ryxa.

  “Hello.” Raina had never heard of a dragon associating with a human, perhaps dragons were attracted to wizards or maybe he had unknowingly put some sort of spell her. “Anyway it couldn’t hurt to try.”

  “I agree,” said Ryxa.

  Marcus shrugged. “I guess.”

  Raina got just a little closer. “You know I’ve never kissed a wizard.”

  “Neither have I,” said Marcus. He tried to remain calm but he really wasn’t. He continued to be nervous being so close to such a beautiful girl. He thought she was awful forward but hopefully not like his sister.

  Ryxa giggled. “Marcus I think she wants a kiss.”

  “No she doesn’t.” Now he was really nervous, not that he didn’t want to kiss her but he felt like heading for the hills. Even though he was in no danger he so wanted to flee and his throat was so dry.

  Raina nodded as she waited for a kiss.

  He summoned all his courage and kissed her on the cheek, but then she tapped her lips indicating that’s where she wanted the kiss. One kiss on the lips turned into two and then three. The wizard liked it a lot. Ryxa bent down to stare at them with her big eye, not knowing a heck of a lot about humans she found it fascinating.

  “How rude,” said Raina. “Do you mind?”

  “No, I don’t mind.” Ryxa continued to watch, waiting for them to kiss some more. “Are you gonna make a baby now? I’d like to see how humans make a baby.”

  Raina laughed. “Certainly not!”

  Marcus shook his head. “Ryxa you shouldn’t say such things.”

  “I want to see how humans mate.”

  “Ryxa stop it,” said Marcus, who felt like digging a hole and crawling in. He was also bothered that Raina was kissing a stranger. Did she kiss every boy she met?

  Ryxa was excited. “I want to be able to tell other dragons how humans mate. Do it, do it! Come on! Learning new things is a big part of being a dragon.”

  Raina shook her head. “What a rude dragon.”

  Ryxa thought about it. “Will you mate if I pretend not to look?”

  “No!” they said simultaneously.

  Ryxa turned away from them. “I’m not looking.”

  FOURTEEN

  THE RAVEN KNOCKED THE CUP OUT OF ABBY’S HANDS, making her cry and spit up the poison. The king picked up the cup and smelled it, even though he hadn’t seen the crow drop the poison in the cup he was now suspicious. There was no way to say for certain that the crow was king Chromos but he suspected as much. And then he saw the small poison berries on the floor. “That son-of-a-bitch! Berhtram go kill that damn crow!”

  Darius picked up Abbey to check on her and she appeared to be okay, but poison in such a small body might have been enough to kill the child. The king decided that he would have a bow and a quiver filled with arrows in his chamber at all times and if the crow returned he would have an arrow with his name on it.

  Berhtram flew out the window in pursuit of king Chromos, over a field of daisies and then an apple orchard where several young boys were picking apples that they shouldn’t be picking, throwing them at one another, with on
e deflecting off the other’s head. An old white haired man appeared from between the trees waving his walking stick at them and watching them run. The raven pursued the crow for several miles, an arrow barely missing him from two young girls that were playing with their father’s bow. Chromos glanced back as he realized Berhtram was gaining distance; he was deliberately leading him to a briar patch with lots of thorny plants and more than dozen other crows. The crows paid close attention to Chromos, as if waiting for his orders.

  Berhtram touched down in a nearby tree thinking that he might be in trouble, wouldn’t be able to survive a fight with all those birds. Chromos cocked his head and smiled as best he could with a beak, looking at Berhtram and then back at the murder of crows. It had become unnaturally quiet and the raven felt like he should flee but would it trigger an attack? Chromos commenced to nod his black head.

  The raven took to the air but so did the crows, attacking him; he did his best to dodge the attacks but there were too many of them. Berhtram headed towards the castle, making it almost a mile before he was overwhelmed, defending himself as best he could, diving and twirling but was no match for a dozen crows that had been warriors before being transformed; he fought valiantly but ultimately fell from the sky.

  FIFTEEN

  MORE THAN TWO THOUSAND SOLDIERS WERE CAMPED at the base of the Great Taishanda Mountain range, their wizards having broken through the mountain and more soldiers in their red and black motif with the pointy helmets were continuing to pour out of the tunnel. They were a serious looking bunch, the Dwagord were all male, having left their females and children behind in Caoma, they had conquered all the kingdoms of the north, all seventeen of them, and now were looking for new conquests and more spoils of war.