by Mike Shelton
“See?” Liam said quietly.
People—mostly young men and young women—stood around in small groups. The room itself held groupings of chairs and tables. And a few shelves of books stood off to one side. Everything here appeared to be in order to Bakari.
“I don’t understand.” Bakari furrowed his eyebrows as he spoke.
“This room is the main gathering place for the university,” Liam said. “It is usually full of people and laughter. It’s where all the flirting, visiting, and bragging occur.”
“But it’s so quiet,” Bakari observed.
“Students have been disappearing,” Liam said. “And those that are left seem to walk around with distrust of others.”
Bakari nodded and took in the room once again. He spied two men in dark robes walking around at the far side of the room. Reaching out his senses, Bakari gasped and took a step back, behind a pillar.
“You felt them, didn’t you?” Liam asked.
Their magical signatures seemed to be in line with what he had felt from Breelyn the previous day. It was the same thing that he had felt from the Chameleon.
But how could that man be here?
“Who are they?” Bakari asked Liam.
“They showed up about two weeks ago—at about the same time that our headmaster disappeared for a while. When he reemerged from his supposed sickness last week, these two were his right-hand men. That is when wizards began to disappear.” Liam pulled Bakari back out of the room and then added, “I have tried to ask about the missing wizards, but all I have been told is that they are needed elsewhere.”
“Have you told your father?”
Liam hung his head low. “No. I wanted to figure it out myself.”
Bakari felt bad for Liam. He was sure Liam’s physical deformity had made growing up more difficult.
“I did tell Breanna,” Liam said. “But she didn’t believe me.”
“Where is your sister?” Bakari asked as the two of them continued walking down a long hallway.
Liam stopped. A look of horror covered his face. “I haven’t seen her since last night. Usually, she meets me for breakfast, but there was a note saying that she had an errand to run this morning. What if she was taken?”
“I’m sure she is fine,” Bakari said.
Liam began to hobble forward faster. “I can find out.”
Bakari gave Liam a questioning look.
Soon they came to a different part of the wing. It looked like more of a dormitory. Then Liam directed Bakari into a room.
“My room.” This was the only explanation Liam offered as they walked through the doorway. Liam sat down on his bed and looked up at Bakari. Liam’s eyes looked afraid, and his chin trembled. “I can reach out to her with my magic.”
“Like you did to me?” Bakari asked.
“No, no. That was the first time that has ever happened to me.” Liam said, rushing his words. “Through the Cremelinos, we have been able to communicate with each other since we were born.”
Liam closed his eyes, and Bakari stood watching him. Liam’s face scrunched up as he tried to concentrate. Mere moments later, Liam opened up his eyes, and tears formed around the edges of them.
“She is west of here,” Liam said. “She must have been taken to the mainland. Who would do that? Who would take Breanna?” Liam stood back up from the edge of his bed and, taking a step, tripped on his lame foot and almost fell down. Bakari managed to grab him at the last possible instant.
“Stupid foot!” Liam screamed. “That’s probably why they don’t want me too—I’m broken.”
Bakari’s heart went out to the young man. What could he do to help Liam? At the same time, a flare of magic rose up in Bakari. The new dragon! He felt the pull for the first time in a while. It was farther north, but it was getting close to the time of its emergence. And he now knew, more than ever, who needed to be the next dragon rider. He was looking right at him.
“What?” Liam said defensively. “You think I’m a freak too, don’t you?”
Bakari shook his head. “Oh, no, Liam. Quite the opposite.” He couldn’t tell Liam yet, and, obviously, Liam hadn’t seen this in Bakari’s mind either. He couldn’t tell riders ahead of time because it was always the dragon’s decision—he would have to wait.
“Whatever,” Liam said. “I need to find my sister.”
Bakari was torn—he also needed to get to the dragon egg. “I want to help, but…”
Liam started to hobble away. “Don’t worry about me. I can do it myself.”
“Liam,” Bakari said as he tried to call Liam back.
Just then, a guard came down the hall and stopped in front of Liam.
“Sir,” the guard said as he bowed. “Headmaster Penrose would like a word with you.”
Liam’s previous frustration turned into fear. He turned toward Bakari.
“I will go with you,” Bakari said firmly.
The guard looked at Liam’s guest and shrugged his shoulders. Then he motioned them down the hall, toward the headmaster’s office.
Before entering the office, Liam whispered to Bakari, “Be ready!”
Bakari nodded. He didn’t know whether Liam was over exaggerating things or not. The young man did seem to get frustrated easily, and his mood shifts were worse than those of anyone Bakari had ever met. But Bakari still readied himself with his powers.
CHAPTER TWENTY
When Bakari had followed Liam and the guard into the headmaster’s office, the room had appeared darker than it should have been in these morning hours. Heavy, red drapes covered the windows, and only a few candles were lit in the sizable room. A sturdy desk sat in front of a bookcase on one side. A fireplace was lit on the other side, in front of which sat a leather couch and three chairs, grouped around a low maple table. And upon the couch lay a man.
They were ushered over to the headmaster, and then the guard removed himself from the room. Without words, the headmaster motioned for the two of them to seat themselves. Bakari regarded this man, who was supposed to be headmaster of a wizard school. He didn’t look well. He looked like he used to be bigger. Flesh sagged around his face, and his hair was thinning. He had a thick blanket over his body, but Bakari could tell that it too was most likely too thin. This was the headmaster of a university of magic? Something indeed had happened.
“Liam,” the headmaster croaked. “Who is our guest here?”
“This is Bakari,” Liam said carefully. He sat on the edge of his seat, his eyes darting around the room. “Bakari is a wizard from the southern kingdoms.”
The headmaster opened his eyes wider.
“From Alaris, sir,” Bakari explained. “Well, I grew up in Alaris, but my heritage is Mahlian.”
“Aaaah,” the headmaster whispered. “The famous Alaris barrier. We wizards have been trying to figure that one out for a long time. Tell me, young man, how did it come down?”
Bakari was saved from answering this by an interruption from Liam.
“Headmaster Penrose, can you tell me where my sister is and where all the wizards have gone?”
The headmaster’s eyes flashed brighter momentarily, then he closed them, grabbing his head with one of his hands as a painful groan escaped his thinning lips.
“What is wrong, sir?” Bakari asked.
The headmaster’s eyes grew clearer for a moment. Turning back to Liam, he said, “Now, I may only have a few minutes, Prince, but you must listen.”
The two of them leaned closer.
“Things are not good here,” he admitted.
Liam looked at Bakari as if to say, I told you so, but he only nodded to the headmaster.
The headmaster sat up a little on the couch. “I am not well, as you can see.”
“What happened?” Liam put a hand on the headmaster’s shoulder.
A knock came at the door, and a guard stuck his head in and said, “Sir, your advisors are here.”
Fear crossed the headmaster’s face, and his eyes darted around.
“Tell them I will be a few minutes.” Turning back to Bakari and Liam, he continued, “I must be quick, before he returns.”
“Before who returns?” Liam’s eyes flared. “What is going on, Headmaster?”
“A man…a sinister man with dark powers. He takes control of me and does horrible things.”
Bakari grew more worried. This seemed different than the Chameleon. The Chameleon took on the visage of someone else but wasn’t exactly that person. But Roland had warned Bakari about someone else.
The headmaster’s eyes flashed yellow. He grunted and closed his eyes, saying, “He’s coming again. I can’t stop him. Listen to me.” When his eyes opened, they were brown once again. “I have sent your sister and the others away, to be safe. You must trust me.”
“Safe from what, sir?” Bakari asked.
“He is trying to take over the school, take power for himself. He wants to control wizards in order to control the Cremelinos.” He rushed the information out without pausing. “He wants to rule the kingdom and free someone from the dead.” The headmaster shook all over. Then his eyes flared bright yellow once again, and a loud growl escaped his lips.
Bakari stood and walked over to the headmaster. He placed his hand on the man’s forehead and dove in with magic. As soon as he had, his hand felt stung, and he brought it back. Then the man’s arm fell out of his blankets, and Bakari saw black tendrils snaking up his skin.
“Get back!” Bakari yelled.
Liam stood up and stepped back a few steps.
“Headmaster, come back to me,” Bakari said with power in his voice—the authority of the Dragon King. “Shake it off and return.”
Headmaster Penrose’s eyes rolled around for a moment. Then he blinked and became lucid again. “Run,” the headmaster said through clenched teeth. “Run away. Quick.”
“We can help you,” Bakari offered.
“No. No one can stand against him,” the headmaster cried out. “He is too powerful.” That last word came out as a roar, so Bakari stepped back. Yellow eyes flashed out at them, and the man began to sit up.
“Who are you?” Bakari asked, ready to strike the man at any moment.
“I am one of three determined to free the one true king.”
Liam turned to Bakari, but Bakari shook his head. He didn’t know what the man was talking about, but his magic was similar to the Chameleon’s.
“You are not the Chameleon.” Bakari didn’t know how he knew this, but the Chameleon shape-shifted and took on another’s look, while this man seemed to have possessed the headmaster instead.
The headmaster was still trying to fight off the possession, but the evil entity was winning. “I am not the Chameleon; I am his brother, the Sentinel, as is the General.”
Bakari groaned. He remembered the man he had seen with Breelyn. Bakari and his allies hadn’t figured out how to combat their magic yet.
“Liam, we need to do something.” Bakari turned to the prince.
The headmaster’s eyes flashed yellow again, and his hands came up in front of him. He was now sitting up on the couch, black magic pouring like fog out of his fingers.
“I know you now, Dragon Rider,” the headmaster snarled. “I will kill you all, and we have your dragon.”
Immediate anger came into Bakari. He reached out and grabbed the collar of the man. “Where is my dragon?”
“Pitiful dragon rider. Can’t even find your dragon.” The man hacked and coughed and then laughed. “My father watches him.”
“Your father?”
“The last true wizard king of Alaris. He is readying himself to return. We will bring him back, and he will rule all the lands on this side of the Blue Sea.” The headmaster’s eyes lost some of their shine, and he began to slump back down onto the couch.
Bakari had only this one chance. He reached into the headmaster’s mind and tried to take control as he had done before, with animals. There was so much darkness there, but a spark of the headmaster still remained.
Bakari grabbed this part—this clean, coherent part—and said, “Headmaster, where did he take my dragon?”
“I don’t…” the man mumbled, and he fought against the evil in his mind and against Bakari’s control.
“Tell me!” Bakari ordered in the man’s mind.
“Bakari, what are you doing?” Liam yelled. “Compulsion is unlawful.”
The headmaster’s eyes became clear for a moment as he said, “He is in a cave in the Superstition Mountains, close to Denir, a place of long ago—a place that blends the physical and magical realms.”
Then the man’s head slumped forward.
“How can I find him?” Bakari said forcefully once again. He grabbed the headmaster’s chin and pulled it back up. If there was any hope of finding his dragon again, he must find out how.
“The Cremelinos…the dragons…they can help you reach him. The power to bind.” The headmaster fell to the side, and Bakari pulled out of his mind. He reeled with this new information.
The headmaster slumped on his couch, passing out for the moment.
Turning around, Bakari saw a look of horror and shame covering Liam’s face.
“I did what I had to do,” Bakari said, his voice deep and forceful, brooking no argument. The power of the Dragon King flowed through him. “Sometimes a king must make hard choices.”
Liam nodded as if he understood and asked, “Now what?”
A knock on the door interrupted Bakari’s answer. Then one of the headmaster’s guards poked his head through and said, “The advisors are still waiting.”
“The headmaster is tired and resting once again,” Liam said. “Please inform his advisors to come back later.”
The guard nodded and closed the door.
“That won’t satisfy them for long,” Liam said.
“We need to leave the island. Quickly!” Bakari said. Turning to Liam, he asked, “How do we do that without being caught?”
Liam thought for a moment and then motioned Bakari to another door in the room. Opening it carefully, they moved inside, shutting it behind them. They found themselves in a narrow walkway.
When Bakari lifted up his eyebrows in question, Liam let out a short laugh.
“My father had this place built,” Liam said. “I’ve been coming here my whole life, off and on. As a young child, I discovered quite a network of hidden passages. Just follow me quietly.”
Bakari followed behind Liam’s staggered steps. He kept his ears open for sounds of being followed, but nothing out of the ordinary sounded behind them. Fifteen minutes later, they opened another door and emerged into the muted light of day.
“A stable?” Bakari asked, peering around.
“The Cremelino stable,” Liam offered in explanation. “I need mine. And Cremelinos are the fastest way to get to the harbor.”
As they took a few steps forward, a man in his late twenties or early thirties stepped up to the duo. He was taller and thinner than Bakari but had the look of one who worked hard every day. A beautiful white male Cremelino followed a few steps behind him.
“Prince,” the man said as he nodded his head to Liam in respect. “Nice to see you, as always.”
“Jakob, could you get my Cremelino for me?” Liam asked. Then, turning to Bakari, he added, “Jakob Widing is the head caretaker of the Cremelino herds for my father. Jakob, this is Bakari. He is from the southern kingdoms.”
Jakob bobbed his head in a nod toward Bakari but then spoke to Liam. “Prince, your Cremelino is all ready.”
“But…” Liam said.
Jakob smiled with a broad grin. “You know these horses; they have minds of their own.”
Liam laughed. “Don’t I know it.”
Jakob waved his hand toward the white Cremelino and said, “And this one insisted on coming with me today. I suppose he is for your friend here.”
Bakari opened his eyes in surprise and was about to ask how the caretaker knew, when a voice came into his mind.
I am here f
or you, Wizard.
“Amazing!” Bakari said out loud.
Liam motioned Bakari toward the horse and said, “He spoke to you, didn’t he, sir?”
Bakari nodded. “As has Crystal, Breanna’s Cremelino.”
“I remember my first time, as a young child. It still is amazing,” Jakob said. “I am blessed to be the head caretaker, as were my fathers before me.”
“It’s softer than a dragon, but similar,” Bakari said before he realized what he was saying.
“Dragons?” Jakob said, his eyes as wide as saucers.
Bakari looked from Jakob to Liam and back to Jakob. “I am a dragon rider.”
“Mercy.” Jakob put his hands up to his head. Turning back to Liam, Jakob said, “I suppose you have quite an adventure ahead of you, then. I remember those days with your father.”
Just then, Liam’s Cremelino came up to them.
“His name is Liberty,” Liam said before mounting.
Bakari had read about the fabled Cremelinos in an old book in the Citadel, when he was but ten years old. The information was scanty, but he did know that a Cremelino had to choose its rider, similar to the dragons.
The Cremelino that Jakob had brought out went down on his forelegs, in what could only be called a bow.
You honor us, Dragon King. You may ride on me.
“I’ve never seen the Cremelinos do that before!” Jakob exclaimed to Liam. “It’s almost like he is bowing to him.”
Liam smiled. “They are, Jakob. They are.”
Bakari put his hand forward and stroked the nose of the spectacular horse. Then he climbed on his back.
The horse stood up and neighed loudly. Hail the king! he proclaimed in Liam’s and Bakari’s minds.
Liam’s horse neighed also, and a look of surprise came into Liam’s eyes.
“Hail the king,” Liam whispered.
Jakob looked startled.
So Bakari reached a hand over and patted the man’s shoulder. “Caretaker, you do a great thing here in caring for these magical animals. I appreciate your discretion in this matter.”
Jakob seemed a little confused but, with a glance to Liam, nodded his head. “Of course. If the Cremelino chose you, then I am the one who is honored to meet you, sir.” He gave Bakari a long, low bow.
