Dragon's Eye
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A fellow classmate, Bruno Lovette,
groaned at this pronouncement and held a hand
to his face, vigorously shaking his head. The
Professor cast a stern look in his direction, and
the young man subsided.
“I believe that the current system we’ve
employed, wherein the Magi are superior to all
other beings, is flawed,” Felicity insisted in a
passionate tone, putting forth her hand as though
she wanted to shake a fist but thought better of
it.
“Humanity’s greatest flaw has always
been the ‘us and them’ mentality, as evidenced
by so many wars among both the Mundanes and
the Magi throughout history. If we could but
accept that we are all one and the same race, and
work together for the good of all humans, not
just the Magi, we could achieve a far greater
existence than we have so far.”
“And I believe you’re a do-gooder, rosy
cheeked little Mundane lover,” scoffed Bruno as
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he crossed his arms over his chest. “What good
does it do to preach the ideas of peace, love, and
understanding if those things cause me to go
hungry? What good is it to me or any other Mage
if kindness to some Mundane means I won’t get
to have a brand-new suit of clothes when I want
it? Mundanes exist to serve our needs. You must
treat them in their designated capacity or they’ll
believe they’re more than they truly are.”
“That’s complete and utter rubbish,
Bruno,” Felicity scolded him. “I’ve been to
Mundania many times, unlike you, and I happen
to know that the people there are kind, hard-
working folks who, for the most part, would
willingly welcome the chance to help us out if
we asked them to. They’re not all like the cruel
thugs who attacked poor Theo.”
“By the gods, you sound as though you
believe we should make friends with them,”
Bruno scoffed. “You don’t make friends with
your servants, Miss Fancy-pants, you command
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their respect. You only give them what is
needful for them to continue to do their jobs.
Even a Mundane would tell you as much.”
“Only an uppity, rich one,” Felicity
retorted in the most scathing tone possible. Her
nose wrinkled up as she added, “Which appears
to be universal as well.”
“If not for the wealth of my family,
Academie Magica would not even be here,”
Bruno reminded her as he got to his feet. He
came over to shake a fist in her face.
Felicity drew her wand to hold him off.
“I may be small, Bruno Lovette, but you’ll not
manhandle me!”
“Students, please!” Professor Spine
protested. “This is precisely the sort of behavior
I was trying to avoid. If the two of you hope to
become
useful,
productive
members
of
Magehold someday, you must refrain from such
outbursts. Bruno Lovette, Miss Lake has the
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floor. Please be kind enough to return to your
seat.”
“My father pays your wages as well,
Professor,” he sneered as he stalked back to his
chair. “You would do well to remember that.”
“And do you believe your father would
condone your current antics, young Master
Lovette?” asked Professor Spine with one
eyebrow arched in his direction.
Bruno clamped his mouth shut and sat
down with his arms crossed over his chest,
choosing not to answer. Everyone there was well
aware that the Director of Education, Kael
Lovette, would have been appalled if he
happened to witness such behavior from his only
son.
“Please continue, Miss Lake,” said
Gregory with an encouraging smile.
“Certainly,
Professor,”
she
said,
resuming her former pose. “I cannot agree with
the concept that our way of life would fail if the
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Mundanes refused to help us, either. Even
though we cannot grow food inside of the Veil,
I’m certain that we could easily obtain land
outside of it and grow food there, or that we
could somehow disrupt the magical barrier
surrounding farms here. My own aunt was
already making strides towards that very
purpose, as a matter of fact. It’s unfortunate that
one of her spells backfired, and blew up the
whole thing.”
Bruno snickered, and Felicity rolled her
eyes. “Also, I must add that certain Mundanes
would be willing to help us even if their
governing body itself did not. But the biggest
question is, why does everyone just assume that
if we asked them the answer would be no?”
Professor Spine straightened up and
cleared his throat. “Well, I do believe there have
been occasional attempts to befriend the
Mundanes, but never within my own lifetime. In
other words, the last two hundred years or so.
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One of those occasions resulted in the
Inquisition, and many lives were lost because of
it. That’s when the Veil was reinforced to the
point of being too powerful to allow
cultivation.”
“And now that the Mundanes have
modernized the technology, the threat is even
greater than ever before. Knowledge of our
existence could very well cost more lives,”
Bruno piped in. “You don’t want to see any of
your little pet Mundanes die, do you?”
“Bruno!” Professor Spine practically
growled. “I’ve had enough of this intractable
nonsense. I can see now that those who are for
and those who are against this damned Law of
Three are going to continue to argue unless we
separate the lot of you for the rest of the day. So,
if you believe as Felicity believes, I want you on
the south side of the school until further notice.
Those who feel more as Bruno does, you shall
go to the north. ‘Us and them’ at its finest. Now
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go. I’ll be announcing my decision school-wide
directly.”
“Yes, sir, Professor Spine,” the students
chorused, and most of the class branched off
with Bruno. Only about ten people followed
Felicity in the other direction.
One young wizard stood in the middle of
the hallway biting his lip indecisively, and
Bruno jabbed him with his elbow as he passed.
The boy turned and caught up with Felicity as
quickly as possible.
“Learning by example, I see, Rian
Arnold,” said Felicity with a chuckle. He
blushed as he continued on his way.
Up ahead, near the main entrance to the
large keep in which the Academie was housed,
a gathering of students had converged on a
messenger who stood by the huge double doors.
Every age of student, from the younglings on up
to the acolytes, stood waiting to hear his news.
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Professor Spine had followed Felicity’s
group on his way back toward the head office.
Now he grasped Felicity’s shoulder for a
moment as he passed. “Something of great
import must have happened to bring a messenger
out here in the middle of the day,” he
commented with a worried frown.
Felicity nodded her agreement. She and
the other students continued along at a slower
pace, but Gregory lifted his wand high, its light
shining in the dimness of the darkened hallway
as he quickly flew to his destination.
“Ah, Professor Spine, there you are, sir,”
said Headmistress Primrose Meriwether with a
sage nod as the man alighted beside her. “Corbin
Matherson has just arrived with a new update
concerning today’s goings-on. I think you will
want to hear about this.”
“Director Dervish McTavert and Master
Lancelot Jones, sir,” Corbin said, still a bit short
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of breath from hurrying. “They’ve taken their
fight to the Council of Elders.”
“Oh my, you can’t be serious,” Gregory
gasped. “Do they really feel as strongly as that?”
“I fear so, sir,” he shrugged. “There’s to
be a hearing tomorrow morning, and the elders
will take a vote once they have heard all the
evidences. I fear it’s quite likely their fight may
succeed, with so many of the Magi upset by the
Law of Three and all that it implies.”
“Madame Meriwether, I had intended to
divide the students for the day to minimize the
fighting, but in light of this new development, I
feel perhaps we’d do better to simply send them
all back to their dorms to cool off,” Gregory
suggested to the witch at his side. “It’s certain
that not much learning will be accomplished
today in any case.”
“I fear you may be right, Master Spine,”
she agreed with a sad little frown. Then, with a
school-wide voluminate, she added, “Attention,
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everyone. All students must return to your
dorms immediately until further notice. Any
disagreements between you while you are there
will be dealt with harshly. To prevent this, it is
permissible to divide by opinion within your
dorms. I would suggest that as one side is likely
to be greater than the other, that those who
believe the Law of Three should be repealed
must go above-stairs, while those against the
removal of that law must remain below. That is
all.”
Felicity and her good friend Jane Nance
linked arms as they found each other among the
press of bodies headed for the six towers where
the dorms were located at the east side of the
keep.
“Great,” she commented as they went.
“Looks like we’re sleeping on the floor tonight.
Won’t that be lovely?”
“It will be, if it gives us a change to do
something about all of this,” Jane replied.
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“What do you mean?” asked Felicity
with a furrowed brow.
“Just because Dervish McTavert is a
Director doesn’t mean he should always have his
own way,” she snorted. “Some of us are working
on a plan to teach him a lesson. But we
absolutely must have you to lead the way,
Felicity. We couldn’t possibly pull it off without
your help.”
“I see,” said Felicity with a feeling of
foreboding. Sometimes being the top student in
the entire school wasn’t an enviable position.
“Then perhaps you’d best tell me precisely what
it is you wish me to lead.”
“We’ll tell you all about it later tonight,”
she answered with a grin. “I think it will be just
the thing, and a bit of a lark as well. I’ll be
counting on your support.”
Then Jane pushed forward into the
crowd and was gone, leaving Felicity standing
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there and biting her bottom lip as the other
students milled around her unmoving form.
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THREE
Lancelot almost decided to ward the
Museum for the night and simply go home for
some rest. After all, he was meant to be giving a
speech tomorrow before the Council, and he
needed to be at his best. But for some reason, he
couldn’t bring himself to leave, and as a general
rule he always listened to his intuition.
“Perhaps a night on the couch wouldn’t
be so bad,” he said, sighing heavily. “I could
always catch up on some reading—at least until
whatever it is that’s got me tethered to the
building plays itself out.”
Before he decided to turn in on the
chaise-longue, however, first he needed to make
sure that every artifact was safely stored, and
that nothing else would require his attention
either.
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If there was one thing about this old
Museum, it was the fact that its nature was
unpredictable. One wouldn’t think that would be
the case, but with so many magical objects in
close proximity, sometimes the things in the old
place tended to get into mischief if you didn’t
watch them with an attentive eye.
Almost
every
item
that
could
conceivably do any real damage was not put on
display. The items displayed to the public were
mostly mock-ups of the real artifacts, which
were safely stored in various vaults and cabinets
in the most protected part of the building.
One very real concern had always been
to keep everything under lock and key so that
people who wanted to use them for reason most
foul would have no opportunity. First and
foremost, that meant people like Caracticus
Snigget.
If he could have his way, Snigget would
break into the Museum and steal every last
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artifact therein, just so he could horde them for
himself. He was one of the main reasons why
Lance protected the walls of this establishment
so fiercely. He wasn’t about to allow some
selfish old miser to obtain the means to unleash
a devastatingly powerful spell on his watch.
> There were other wizards and beings
who wanted a piece of the Museum too, of
course. Even though the Magehold would love
to pretend otherwise, Lancelot knew not every
citizen who lived behind the Veil was intent on
doing good deeds.
And who could blame them, really?
Magick was a very powerful tool in one’s
arsenal, and not something that should be taken
lightly. Just as Theodore Lundy must now be
well aware.
Lance’s inquiry concerning that young
wizard had not been made lightly, of course.
Since he had no children of his own, he was
forced to take an active interest in the children
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of other people instead. And Teddy’s father,
Evan, was a good friend while he lived. So
naturally, Lance intended to continue that
friendship through the child.
Using his wand rather than walking
through the dozens of shelves, Lancelot drifted
through the darkened library, but he spotted
nothing out of place. He continued on into the
artifact rooms, of which there were many, using
magical means to ensure that every lock was
secure.
Nothing seemed wrong, and yet still he
couldn’t shake the feeling that left him so
insecure. Something was going on. Of that he
was completely sure. And yet, nothing within
the Museum itself was the cause, so he
determined that perhaps he ought to go out and
check the grounds.
It didn’t take long for trouble to find him
once he’d stepped out the door. Detecting a foul
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presence, Lance was quick to redouble all of the
wards and secure every window and door.
A whoosh of sound assailed his ears, and
he looked up to the familiar sight of a huge red
dragon flying through the air.
Caracticus Snigget wasn’t really a
dragon, but just a wizard who had learned the