Marcus was definitely not inclined to do that. “I’m not going to show you my naked bottom!”
Raina giggled. “If were to be married I’ll see your naked bottom plenty of times as you’ll see mine.”
Marcus liked the sound of that. “Yes well we’re not married yet.”
“Take them off and give them to me. I have a needle and I’ll mend them for you.”
“What? I can just stand here naked!”
Again Raina giggled. “Hide behind that palm tree and hurry up or you’ll be running around bare butt.”
Marcus hesitated but soon acquiesced.
After several minutes Raina had mended the hole. “Here come and get them.”
“That is not funny.” He was naked from the waist down. “Throw them here.”
“Marcus if you want them you’ll have to come and get them.” She smiled waiting to see how she would react.”
“Throw them here woman.” Marcus was trying to assert his maleness.
Raina chased him around the tree and did get to see his naked white bottom and then she tossed him his trousers. After he was dressed Raina stopped Marcus from moving forward. “I think we should wait until this fog lifts, anything could sneak up behinds us. We could kiss until it does?”
Marcus would have insisted on moving forward but the kissing made all the difference. He thought she was smart. “Okay.”
They sat near the edge of the water and kissed as Kevin looked on; they occasionally glanced up at the knight and smiled, had he been a real person they wouldn’t have ventured to do such a thing. After a while Marcus was tempted to touch her breast but didn’t dare, certainly wasn’t the proper thing to do, and with each day that passed he was becoming more fond of her. Those full lips were wonderfully soft as was her beautiful face. He took in her neck’s wonderful scent.
Early afternoon saw almost all of the fog dissipate with only small patches remaining here and there; Marcus placed the axe in the boat before Kevin put the boat in the water, they could hear a woodpecker’s pointed bill echoing loudly off a palm tree, which had frightened them for a split second. They knew it was dangerous being out here but he needed that wand. Kevin was a mighty knight but would he be enough to protect them. They departed the boat onto the island, both nervous at what they might encounter; a large splash indicated something big in the water.
“Marcus, can you sense your wand?” asked Raina.
“Not yet,” said Marcus. “Maybe this isn’t even the right place. Maybe we’re doing this for nothing.”
Raina shook her head at Marcus’s negativity. “I have a good feeling that you’re going to find it.” She really didn’t but she wanted to encourage him.
Marcus sighed. “Raina, I have to ask how you are able to spend so much time with me? Why didn’t your parents send knights with you for protection?”
Raina had tried so hard to only show Marcus a happy face but now she looked sad, perhaps it was time to tell him. Revealing one’s secrets also revealed one’s true self. “I am a princess Marcus or at least I was but both of my parents were killed by the Yurrosy. I was living at your castle. They’re trying to rebuild the kingdom but it’ll take years.”
Marcus hadn’t expected such sad news. “I am so sorry. So you don’t have a place to live?”
She relived the nightmare even though she tried hard to push it from her mind; she had seen so much misery and death. “No I have a small hut but I don’t like it. Everything is so sad and bleak there. The spirit of our kingdom has been squashed like a bug, no happy faces to be found. The kingdom will recover eventually but not for a long time I think.”
The boy nodded as he thought. How utterly horrible; he tried to imagine himself in such a dire situation but it was too depressing to contemplate. “Come and live with me in my castle! Lots of empty chambers and you can have one. There’s lots of room.”
Raina shrugged. “I’d like to but I don’t think it would be proper.”
“Proper smoper. I insist.”
She thought about it. “As long as you agree to marry me when you turn fourteen.”
Marcus had not expected to hear that; he liked her a lot, maybe even loved her but he didn’t know her enough to marry her. It was much too soon for such talk. Or was it? The sorcerer was confused and uncertain. It was difficult for him to even think straight but he tried hard to imagine being married and it did bring a smile to his cute face. He had almost a year to go before turning fourteen. “I’ll have to take some time to think about it. What would my father say?”
“Of course you need time to think it over but until you decide I can’t live in the castle with you.” She smiled at him.
“Okay.”
He took a single step forward and suddenly Marcus could feel the pull of the wand and he was compelled to move towards it. “I feel it!” he said excitedly. “It’s pulling me this way come on!” Marcus ran ahead but then suddenly stopped, frozen.
Raina ran up to him. “What is it?”
Marcus was immediately concerned because he realized they weren’t alone. “I saw something move. Look there it is again. Did you see it?” Indiscernible movements through the trees were observed and a single branch was broken in the distance.
Raina spotted it. “Look, it’s one of those things with two heads.”
Kevin’s sword caught the reflection of the sun as he pulled it from its scabbard. Four niiwu were in the process of surrounding them, and all were equipped with battle axes. They always meant business and there really was no talking them in or out of anything, only an enchantment or a sharp weapon would be able to change their minds. As the first two headed monster pushed its way forward the knight attacked it without hesitation, decapitating both heads with a single swing of his sword. Marcus produced an eagle to show them that he was a sorcerer, hoping to scare off the niiwu, and although they looked confused by the large bird they would not be dissuaded from their attack, an easy meal they were sure.
A female niiwu picked up the knight and threw him against a tree, both Marcus and Raina ran towards Kevin for protection; he quickly got back up on his feet and launched his sword through the female’s chest, killing her. The knight blocked a battle axe with his left arm, grabbing it with both hands he took it from his assailant, driving the axe down through his shoulder killing him. The lone niiwu that remained decided that his best course of action was to flee.
Marcus was visibly shaken. “I thought we were dead for sure.”
Raina nodded and hugged Marcus. “Without Kevin we’d both be dead for sure. Do you still feel the pull of the wand?”
Marcus scrunched his eyebrows and he could indeed feel its pull but he also felt as if they were being watched by unseen eyes but thought it best to keep quiet about it, looking around he couldn’t see anyone but the remaining niiwu continued to watch from a distance. “Let’s hurry up and find it so we can get out of here.”
It took Marcus the better part of an hour but he finally zeroed in on one particular palm tree, taller than the others. He stared up at its beautiful canopy. “Raina, look at this.” He placed his hand close to the tree and it was pulled against it, like a magnet pulling steel.
“You can get the knight to cut it down but then what?” Raina stared into Marcus’s blue eyes. “How are you going to get the wand out of the tree?”
The wizard shook his head. “I can’t get Kevin to cut it down I have to do it myself. This could take forever. I hate to think of the blisters.” He passed his hand up and down the palm tree, getting the strongest pull at about the height of his belly button. “It’s right in here I can feel it. If this thing makes my spells work right I will be so happy!” Marcus took one of the axes from a dead niiwu, it looked extremely sharp and he commenced to chop down the tree. After a lot of effort with frequent periods of rest his hands, wrists and arms were extremely tired but he was determined to keep at it. His poor hands now had multiple blisters from all the chopping. Almost two hours later the palm tree fell with
a crack and a mighty crunch as it hit the ground. He ran his hand over the ridges of the tree, feeling the pull of the wand inside, he could even tell that it was about the length of his wrist to his elbow.
Raina smiled at Marcus. “You do realize that you are going to have to chop through it again to have a small enough piece of the tree so Kevin can carry it back to the castle and then you’ll need to cut the wand out of it.”
Marcus showed her a pained look. “Believe me I know.”
Hours later after the wizard had cut through the palm tree, the knight threw the cut tree over his shoulder and they started back for the castle. They were all happy to get across the water and off the island; the magic that swirled around that place was unsettling to all three of them.
The golden knight led the way, they were still a quite a ways away from Marcus’s castle but they were making good progress. Marcus continued to think about what Raina had said, about them getting married, and in fact a lot of 14-year-old’s did get hitched and start a family.
“Raina, if we did get married how many kids would we have?” He watched her face as she thought about it.
“I don’t think we should have any until I’m about eighteen and then we should have seven or eight.” Raina batted her eyes at him.
“Eight kids!” Marcus imagined all the kids running around in the castle, certainly wouldn’t be quiet in there anymore. Good thing it was the woman’s responsibility to run after them. Was he seriously considering marriage?
Raina nodded. “Yes eight is a good number, lots of children to look after us in our old age.”
“If I conjure up more knights they can look after us, carry us around even when we get old.”
She nodded. “I never thought of that. No one will dare bother us with you being a sorcerer. Sounds like a very good life to me. I hope Brother and Kadyn are okay. I’m worried about them.”
Marcus stopped and Kevin also halted. “What is that?”
“What?” said Raina. “I don’t see anything.”
“That black lump right there? See it.” Marcus took off on the run when he realized what he was seeing; he had never run so fast, no way to catch up to him. He simply couldn’t run any faster.
Ryxa was lying motionless on the ground, her eyes closed as Marcus started to cry. He stroked her face and hugged her as his tears fell onto the black dragon. He commenced to sob uncontrollably. “Ryxa wake up. Wake up.” He climbed on top of her and listened for a heartbeat but he couldn’t hear one. “Nooooo!”
And seeing Marcus sob made Raina cry too.
FORTY-THREE
CHAROX BLINKED HIS EYES SEVERAL TIMES and listened to the wizard Daijulan who was walking around on top of his head; never in a million years did he ever entertain the idea that he could be captured by anyone, and certainly not by a bunch of puny humans. He needed to urinate and so timed it when he would be able to get several of them, spraying more than a dozen of the Dwagord with his hot pale daffodil yellow urine, burning their eyes and irritating their skin, making them scream and curse the grey dragon.
“Just wait until I get out of here!” Charox was both impatient and furious, being confined in such a manner was making him stiff. “And I will get out of here you maggots!”
Arnald climbed up the rope and onto the dragon carrying a sharpened post. The wizard stood with an axe and commenced to chop at one of the scales on the side of Charox’s head, taking him more than a half hour to remove part of it, like a scab being picked off a sore it was pried off and tossed to the ground. Daijulan dug into the leather pouch that he carried over his shoulder, removing a putrid smelling powder and rubbing it onto the pointy end of the post. “Dotramostora!” A small explosion produced a puff of smoke and the point turned florescent black with sparkles of light dancing within.
“Arnald, don’t just stand there, pick up the sledgehammer and help me drive this into his head.” Daijulan smiled as the dragon struggled but to no avail. Whatever they were about to do up there Charox was at their mercy, of which none was forthcoming.
Arnald drove the post into the dragon’s head, and a small amount of blood escaped. The dragon was so large it felt more like a splinter but it did hurt, desperately trying to bring up a spell to free himself but he had nothing, and perhaps for the first time in the dragon’s life he was scared. If Charox couldn’t free himself it would be a fate worse than death.
Daijulan looked towards the horizon and could see one of King Kai’s personal guards riding towards them, the yellow crest on his chest notified that he was carrying an important message from the king and didn’t look very happy at all. Finally he approached the dragon. “Daijulan I have sad news. Your brother is dead.”
Daijulan couldn’t believe that his twin was dead, he should have felt it. “Are you sure?”
“Yes quite sure he has no head.”
The sorcerer climbed down off the dragon. He rubbed his forehead from the stress of hearing such terrible news. “How was he killed?”
“The magical knights escaped and beheaded him. King Kai now worries about your safety as well.”
He knew that the king worried about no one’s safety except himself. Daijulan was in shock, trying to process the information. Their magic enhanced one another and now he wondered what it would do to his ability, but if anything he felt more powerful. That was peculiar. Perhaps he had absorbed his brother’s energy. “I’m heading back for the funeral.”
The guard mounted his horse. “The king insists that you remain here until you spell that dragon.” He turned his horse around and headed off toward the horizon.
The sorcerer wasn’t at all happy, his brother would most likely be ashes by the time he returned, but disobeying Kai would see him with no head as well. He was angry as he formed a ball of fire and launched it skyward to show his displeasure, it expanded and exploded with a mighty concussion hurting the guard’s ears and making his horse rear up. Charox jumped. Were his bindings slightly looser than they had been?
The wizard climbed back onto the dragon and went back to work.
FORTY-FOUR
AN ELDERLY FELLOW SAT IN HIS DOORWAY on a chair he had made from branches that were tied together with strips of bark; he was playing with his long white beard, staring out at the fog that had rolled in overnight, enjoying the crispness of the morning air. The old man puffed on his pipe that he had carved out of a large tree branch, sending smoke up towards the heavens. Last night had been so hot and muggy and he was thoroughly enjoying the coolness of the early morn, and at his age he enjoyed every pleasant moment that he could manage. His eyebrows tightened as the dog came out of the fog and ambled by with the bird on its back like a man would ride a horse. He must have had a little too much wine with breakfast.
An hour later in the forest the fog persisted, creating a murky atmosphere amongst the trees, its mysteries even more mysterious under the cover of the mist, but the black dog was guided by his sense of smell more than his vision. Even the trees looked different under such a disguise; it would be difficult to spot anyone that was out there. Even though the canine didn’t see them he heard the two blue jays flying by overhead and heard several crows cawing in the far distance, now in stealth mode the dog had become wary. Berhtram remained on the dog’s back as they made their way through the forest, with the animal making his rounds from snare to snare, the last three he had checked had been devoid of an animal but the faint scent of the one’s that had been taken was away still in the air. It was risky business stealing from traps but a hungry dog needed some way to keep alive. The raven croaked as he could smell the dead rabbit in the distance; the dog also detected the wonderful scent of his next meal.
Blackie was highly intelligent and didn’t conduct himself like an ordinary dog because he wasn’t, he was a human that had been transformed, and the longer he remained in canine form the more his instincts changed, slowly losing his humanity. He remained mostly dog in a man’s world, travelling from place to place having stopped in this area long
er than he normally would because of all the snares that were set and all the delicious animals that he could steal. He knew that he might be pressing his luck and was also enjoying the company of the raven as it had been a lonely two years, during that time he had been abused until he finally managed to escape.
As the dog approached the kill he stopped suddenly because the forest had become quiet, almost always a sign of danger. Was someone lurking? Blackie scented an unfamiliar smell in the area but the rabbit was intoxicating, pulling at his stomach and was most satisfying, and then a branch cracked just as he was about to bite the cottontail.
Lawrence was crouched down beside a tree with his bow at the ready, having had far too many kills stolen he was determined to catch the culprit. It was not going to be good for whoever was taking food from his family, but the problem was the heavy fog made it difficult to see much of anything. He thought he saw a silhouette of something but couldn’t be sure, whatever it was looked low to the ground and definitely some sort of animal and so he loosed his arrow, severing the very end of the dog’s tail and making it squeal, knocking Berhtram off as Blackie hightailed it out as fast as he was able, leaving the raven to fend for himself on the forest floor.
FORTY-FIVE
KING KAI WATCHED FROM HIS THROWN that had been carried into the courtyard as the two archers were situated four hundred yards apart, each with a longbow waiting for the kings nod to not only commence firing their arrows but to also slowly walk towards one another where they would soon be within striking distance. They needed another captain and the survivor would get the position, if neither survived the king would select two more. Neither Odura nor Rerec were archers which made it all the more interesting, because Kai felt luck would play an important role in the selection and that whoever won was destined for the position.
The king nodded and they commenced shooting their arrows, neither coming very close at first but Odura got lucky with a high arching arrow that caught Rerec in the left thigh, making it much more difficult for him to aim with such excruciating pain. Rerec did manage a close call when an arrow stuck just in front of Odura but he subsequently took an arrow to his chest and shortly thereafter he was dead.
Knights of the Wizard (of Knights and Wizards Book 2) Page 14
