“Unbelievable,” the high mage said in awe, “to transform the serpent’s escutcheon with a single word.”
The scale was a shimmering black on the surface, and soft with fluff on the underside. It had been formed into a perfect square twenty feet wide and floated in the air. The necromancers shrank away.
“Hold!” Rezormoor yelled at them. “You are bound to me! You will serve me until I release you!”
Now Max pictured a suit of armor in his mind. He opened himself to the next Prime Spell, weaving it around the image in his head. Bringing them together in such a way flooded the room with magic. The spells were great ocean tides, tugging at Max and threatening to pull him under. One mental slip, and he’d be consumed by them. He continued to concentrate, drawing from knowledge he had never had, but that he felt nevertheless.
“Panoply,” Max said, closing his eyes. Panoply—to cover and protect. This time the room shook as if a small earthquake rumbled outside. Bits of stone broke free from the walls and ceiling, and Dirk nearly lost his footing. The high mage gasped, and even Princess stepped backward. The black square wrapped itself around Rezormoor and began to flow like liquid, forming into the intricate armor as if being poured into an invisible mold.
When Max opened his eyes, he saw the man from his nightmare—the solitary figure in black armor that would lay waste to the world.
“Yes.” Rezormoor began to laugh. “Yes!” The armor covered him from head to foot as, black tendrils of smoke drifted from the sorcerer. It was exactly as Max had seen in his dream.
“I’m reminded of the fluff dragons,” Rezormoor said, stretching his hand and flexing his gauntleted fingers, “to have been adorned nearly as I am now. It’s a feeling one can hardly describe. How sad to have it taken away. Sad but profitable. This is the way of the world.”
Rezormoor lowered his hand and turned his attention to Max. “Well, you’ve done this perfectly. Your connection to the Codex is remarkable; it’s almost as if . . .” He flipped his visor open and stared at Max with a strange expression. “No, it couldn’t be.”
The high mage dropped to the floor, and the Shadrus skeletons followed her lead. “What do you command of us?” she asked.
“Kill them all,” Rezormoor ordered. “When Max dies, the power to defeat me dies with him.”
“Good-bye,” Puff said at his side. The fluff dragon’s voice was laced with a heavy sadness, having lost not just himself but everything in the world as well. And Max supposed he had: his magic, his strength, his family, and now his friends. The very sight of the poor creature left little evidence of his once grand nature. He was a simple fluff dragon now, soft on the outside and hard on the inside.
Fluff dragons, Max thought to himself. They’re the key to everything. An idea came to life, and Max reached for the Codex with his mind.
“Density!” he yelled as the Shadrus skeletons advanced. Density—to compact or make heavy. He gathered the Prime Spell and flung it at Rezormoor. Waves of it crashed over the sorcerer, but enough of the Prime Spell penetrated into the dragon scale and took hold. Suddenly the armor became very, very heavy.
It was impossible to say just how much the armor weighed, only that it fell forward and crashed into the floor, sending a spiderweb of cracks spreading across the room. The skeletons halted as Max wove the next spell: “Parity!” he cried. Parity—to balance and make equivalent. Max focused on the outside of the armor and willed it to change.
The dragon-scale armor Rezormoor wore was no longer soft on the inside and hard on the outside. The Prime Spell wove through the heavy plate and transformed it so it was hard on the inside, too. And just like with the fluff dragons, the serpent’s escutcheon turned the sorcerer’s magic back on itself. Rezormoor cried out as whatever spell he was conjuring suddenly disappeared. Max also felt a snapping of magical chains that ran from Rezormoor to the various Shadrus necromancers around the room.
“Your bonds are broken,” Max yelled at them. “Flee now or be destroyed.” The web of cracks, which grew beyond the floor and began to climb the walls, started to break open. A terrible rumble filled the room as bits of stone dropped from the ceiling. The remaining shadows drained away like dirty water in a tub. The necromancers used their freedom to cast themselves into the last of the shadows and disappear.
The high mage looked up at Max in horror. “Don’t kill me,” she pleaded.
Max’s reply was one word: “Run.”
“Max, we’ve got to get out of here!” Sarah shouted above the growing noise. She reached down and helped Ricky up from the floor. He blinked, surprised.
“What can I do?” he offered.
“Grab Magar,” Sarah said. Ricky moved like the athlete he’d always been and scooped up the unconscious wizard, throwing him over his shoulders.
“No!” Rezormoor shrieked. He sank several inches farther, the floor beginning to bow beneath the armor’s weight.
“I promised I’d put you in the armor, and I did,” Max said to the sorcerer. “And I promised that I’d defeat you so the dragons would live. And now I’ve done that, too.”
“Impossible!” Rezormoor screeched.
“I know I’m not the strongest or the bravest kid out there. But I do keep my promises.”
“Yeah,” Dirk said as he ran up to Max’s side. He’d found Moki and was holding him in his arms. “Game over, baldy.”
“Baldy?” Rezormoor shouted. The armor sank farther into the floor. “BALDY? NOOOOO!” As far as last words went, Dirk thought the sorcerer could have done better than that.
Princess had returned to her human form and grabbed Dirk by the shoulder, spinning him around. “Come on,” she shouted, pushing him toward the door.
“That’s my girlfriend,” Dirk said as he ran past Max.
“Where’s the zombie duck?” Max asked, but Princess gave him a shove and got him moving.
“Don’t worry about it,” she yelled. Princess scooped up the cowering Loki by the scruff of his neck. They made a run for it with Puff and Sarah on their heels. Max took a last look around the room—there was no sign of the high mage. He turned and ran after his friends.
They flew down the long flight of stairs as the Wizard’s Tower shook and began to collapse. They heard the tremendous BOOM of Rezormoor falling through the top level, and then the sounds of the next floor rumbling violently as it began to give way. When they made it to the bottom, they joined with Tower guards and others who were fleeing toward the main doors. Sarah grabbed one of the big guards by the shoulder and yelled at him, “There’s a guard tied up in the prison! Get him!” The man nodded and turned, making for the basement as fast as he could. Another BOOM sounded as the next floor collapsed.
They ran outside, chunks of the Wizard’s Tower falling around them. They didn’t stop, sprinting through the great stone forest that surrounded the grounds and all the way to the outside wall. Max and the others reached it, panting and out of breath. They turned just in time to see the Wizard’s Tower implode, falling in on itself with a rumble that was felt throughout the entire city.
“Now, that is how you defeat an evil wizard,” Dirk said, grinning ear to ear.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
A FAMILIAR RIDE
SARAH RECOGNIZED THE WAGON THAT pulled up to the Tower gate immediately. Amid all the confusion, the two-horse carriage driven by Sumyl may have looked out of place, but it felt like a safe harbor in a storm. If there was anywhere Max and his friends felt protected and comfortable, it was there. As they approached, the door swung open and Dwight jumped out. “You’re alive!” he shouted. He sounded uncharacteristically happy.
“What in the world are you doing here?” Max asked. He looked up at the elf, who smiled down at him in return.
“You have some very powerful friends, Max Spencer,” Sumyl said. “I’ve been chartered for a special journey . . . and paid handsomely, if I might add. Enough to purchase a second carriage and driver for my old route. But please, come inside.”
&
nbsp; “Thanks,” Max said. “Let me just make sure everyone’s okay.”
Sarah stood next to Princess and flagged a city guard. Three of them ran over.
“Are you okay?” the guard asked. All around them, citizens and soldiers were pouring into the Tower grounds to assist any who needed help.
“Yes, thank you,” Sarah replied. She motioned to Loki, still hanging from the scruff of his neck in Princess’s hand. “This fire kitten was in league with Rezormoor Dreadbringer to not only hunt and kill dragons, but to wage war against this city and the kingdom.”
Princess handed him over. “Keep his tail doused in water or he’ll be up to no good,” she told the guard.
The guard nodded and examined the ragged-looking fire kitten. “Looks like someone got the better of him.”
“No more evil for you, mister,” Moki said, pointing a claw at his former boss. Loki flinched.
“Please, Officer, take me to jail now,” Loki begged. The man shrugged and carried the fire kitten away.
“What about him?” Princess said, motioning toward Ricky.
“He carried me from the Tower,” Magar said, stepping forward. There was a nasty welt growing on the side of the wizard’s head.
Max walked over with Dirk.
“Hey, Spencer,” Ricky said. “And Dirk.”
“Ricky ‘The Kraken’ Reynolds,” Dirk said as he leaned against the carriage, striking his coolest pose. “Well, well, well. Back to being a human—or are you?”
“Whatever,” Ricky said.
“I think we should talk about it,” Max said, addressing Princess. “I don’t know what we should do with him just yet.”
“Is there anything else, then?” the guard asked.
Sarah cast a look at Ricky and then shook her head. “No, we’re fine. Thank you.”
The guard nodded and ran off to join the others.
“Thanks for not turning me in,” Ricky said.
“We’ll see,” Sarah announced. “Like Max said, we need to talk about it.” She turned to address Sumyl. “Can you keep an eye on him?”
The elf nodded, drawing an elven bow across her lap. “Why don’t you have a seat up here next to me,” Sumyl offered. “I don’t have to warn you not to run, do I? You know how elves are with bows.”
“Uh, not really,” Ricky admitted. “But I won’t run.” He climbed up the carriage and found a spot next to the elf.
“Inside,” Dwight said, motioning toward the door. “There’s been strange things going on since you left Jiilk.”
They climbed aboard the magical carriage to find a figure sitting on the crescent-shaped bench.
“Come on, everyone—take a seat,” Dwight directed. They all found a place to sit, Puff plopping down next to Max. The stranger was dressed in black leather and wore a Techrus-style cowboy hat pulled over his face. Max felt the familiar ringing in his ears whenever he was around someone or something that radiated magic. Then he recognized the man who’d sent them back in time from the future. Except he wasn’t a man, really. He was a dragon.
“Obsikar,” Max said, addressing the dragon king.
“So you know me,” Obsikar said. “That’s good, as apparently we’ve met before.”
“It’s okay,” Dwight said, closing the carriage door behind them. “Obsikar and I have had a long while to talk this through. He understands what happened with Robo-Princess and the deal we made to come back.”
“Robo-Princess?” Princess asked, raising an eyebrow. “What a horrible name.”
“And we did it,” Dirk said proudly. He’d taken a seat next to Princess. “We saved the dragons.”
“So it would seem,” Obsikar said. “I heard strange whisperings in the mountains—that a band of Techrus humans stepped between Mor Luin knights and a dragon. So I sought this dragon out and was told a rather remarkable story.”
Puff sat on the bench with his mouth hanging open before he finally found the courage to speak. “It’s all as they’ve said, my liege. I’ve been with them for some time. They’ve always sought to stay true to their promise to save us, even when it put them in peril. They even rescued me from a cruel life with orcs.”
Obsikar nodded. “Friends to all dragons, then. I am pleased to hear this.”
“Obsikar tracked me down in Jiilk,” Dwight said. “I told him everything that happened. After that, he was anxious to find you.”
“So you really did travel into the future?” Princess asked. “I had become some kind of living statue there?”
“A robot,” Dirk answered. “I’ll tell you all about it on our next date.”
Princess did a double take. “Date?”
“You were there too,” Dirk said to Magar, “but you were just a floating head.”
“Oh,” Magar said, not liking the sound of that. “I suppose it figures.”
Obsikar noted the Codex of Infinite Knowability sitting on Max’s lap. “So the Codex has been returned to the Magrus after all these years.”
“Yeah,” Max said. “But it wasn’t easy.”
“And he’s, like, the long-lost descendant of the dude who wrote it,” Dirk added.
“Not exactly,” Obsikar corrected him.
Sarah leaned forward. “Wait, what do you mean by that?”
Obsikar shifted to face Max. “When I said I’d met you before, I wasn’t talking about the encounter in the future. I was introduced to you on the day you were born . . . by your father.”
“My father?” Max said, confused. His father had divorced his mom when he was little and never came back. “How would my father know you?”
“Because you’re not some long-lost relative whose blood contains the slightest remnants of the Codex’s author, Max. You are the very son of Maximilian Sporazo, born in the Tower by a mother burned by dragon’s fire, and taken into the future to live secretly in the Techrus.”
“Oh snap!” Dirk said, flinging himself against the back of the seat. “Of course! It all makes sense.”
“The Codex was taken to the Dwarven vaults for safekeeping. But when Sporazo disappeared, it went to you on its own.”
Sarah looked at Max. “That’s what surprised Rezormoor in his chamber. Your connection to the Codex was more powerful than he’d anticipated. He must have figured it out.”
“Only the son of Maximilian Sporazo could command the Codex like you did,” Princess added. “You wielded the Prime Spells as if you’d been doing it your entire life.”
“Then what about my mom?” Max asked, his head spinning. “Does she know any of this?”
“You were simply adopted,” Obsikar said. “No different from any other child in similar circumstances. She does not know who you are, or where you come from.”
“So what now?” Max asked. He was glad he was sitting in the magical carriage, because had he been anywhere else he might have gotten sick.
“What do you want to do?” Obsikar replied. “You could stay and rebuild the Tower as the son of Maximilian Sporazo if you desired.”
“Or we could go and get a castle from Prince Conall,” Dirk suggested.
“The kings of the Seven Kingdoms would grovel at your feet,” Princess said. “You could have anything you wanted.”
Max thought about it and then turned to Sarah. “What do you want, Sarah?” he asked.
Sarah smiled. “I just want to go home, Max. Pretty much the same as I always have. To rejoin my family, go back to school, and live a normal life.”
Max’s decision was easy. “Then we’re going home.”
Obsikar nodded. “I thought as much. This is why I have provided the best coach in the Seven Kingdoms to drive you to the Mesoshire, and from there to take you home. Consider it my reward, insignificant as it may be, for saving my family from destruction.”
Max took a deep breath. Home, he thought to himself. Finally, we’re going home.
Obsikar stood and made his way to the door. “Have a pleasant journey,” he said. “Perhaps fate will see you returned to the Magr
us someday. If it happens, consider yourself a friend of the dragons, now and forever.”
The thought of losing a castle had bummed Dirk out. But hearing he was a dragon friend made him smile. “Cool,” he said with a grin.
Obsikar nodded again and stepped through the door. A moment later, the slate in the wall opened and Sumyl peered through. “Do you wish to stay or make for the Tree of Attenuation right away?”
Max looked around. He was surrounded by friends and a magical fridge stocked with food. “What do you say?” he asked.
“Perhaps I could ride with you a ways?” Princess asked. “I think I will return to the Unicorn Nation.”
“And if it isn’t too much trouble, I have family in Emelen,” Magar said. “Maybe I could get a lift too?”
Max nodded, turning to Dwight. “I’ve had enough of being underground,” the dwarf said. “I think I’d like to get back to the Dragon’s Den. Maybe do some remodeling. It just so happens I’ve come across a good supply of silver.”
Puff looked up at Max. “I have nowhere to go. Do you think I could travel to the Techrus with you?”
“Why not?” Max said. “We’ll just say you’re, like, a messed-up sheepdog or something. You can totally live with me.”
“I can?”
“Sure,” Max continued. “You’re the one who gave me the idea to use Rezormoor’s armor against him.”
“I didn’t know that,” Puff said.
“If you were never a fluff dragon, I bet Max wouldn’t have come up with it,” Dirk added. “Dude, maybe you didn’t realize it, but you kind of saved the world too.”
Puff smiled, and it was the most genuine and joy-filled smile Max had seen in some time.
Moki raised his paw. “Are there fire kittens where you’re going?”
“No,” Dirk said, “but there are hot dogs.” He busted out laughing and the others joined in, unable to help themselves.
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