Magnus had met a similar misfortune. He noticed the Black Squad throwing him malevolent looks. How did he even dare to snigger at them? That certainly called for revenge.
“Hey you, Magnus,” Darius said in a superior tone.
As Magnus heard the sound of this voice, an uncomfortable inkling crept into his mind. He slowly turned around, his heart hammering faster as he expected the worst to come. When he saw the full line-up of the Black Squad towering on the small stairs in front of him, the verdict was clear: one against five.
There was cunning Rodrick whose was the colour of carrots, sinister Viktor who had the second strongest influence in the gang, short-haired mysterious Henry and lofty Giselbert whose light-brown hair which had waves the sea and a single black freckle beneath his right eye. And of course, in the middle stood their leader Darius, a pale boy with very nasty behaviour.
“So you think you can poke fun at me?” said Darius fiercely as he descended the stairs to get closer to Magnus who was stiff like a statue. Darius surveyed Magnus' ragged loose clothes scornfully. “I think you should learn to dress like a man first,” he scoffed insolently.
Magnus felt a hot wave sweep over him. He wasn't quite sure if it was a wave of anger, shame or fear, but perhaps it was all of them mingled together. He felt as if Darius' words had bit him like a venomous snake.
Darius heard his friends burst into laughter behind him. He stultified the little scarecrow brilliantly! Henry didn't join the laughing party, but his lip was slightly curled into a bothersome smile.
Although it looked like a battle of one against five, Magnus wasn't the only one who felt the blood in his veins boiling. Maren kept casting the Black Squad resentful looks. She was ready to plunge into the fight, but just like it had happened before, somebody stopped her. And perhaps it was for the best.
Suddenly, a tiny figure emerged between Darius and Magnus. Fjalldís didn't stop surprising them! She bravely faced Darius and his whole gang, all alone. Perhaps there was something more to her than first impression suggested.
The most dazed seemed to be Darius. How dare this little runt block his way? There was a moment's pause in which he glared at Fjalldís and Fjalldís glared right back into his steel-blue eyes. And there was no doubt that it was a rather hostile glare.
“You're a big show-off, but if you think it makes you something better than the others, you're wrong,” Fjalldís said curtly. That was an act of great bravery, but what to do next? Suddenly, she couldn't find any words to say, as if they had ran away from her tongue when they saw what the previous sentence was doing to Darius' face.
Darius wasn't sure what to say either. Obviously, he didn't expect to hear anything like this! When Fjalldís thought he would grind into her with his unfriendly stare, a heavy linen bag fell right into his arms from above. He had a difficulty not having his back break backwards.
“Well? Help me take these things, you lazy bunch of...” Aedan growled, his voice trailing off at the end of the sentence. Nobody could hear the last word he uttered. And that wasn't all; there were more linen bags to carry.
Soon they realised that the Black Squad would carry all the bags. Aedan seemed to have constituted them the “fortunate” chosen ones to aid him with most of the workload today. Rodrick was still left empty-handed, sniggering mockingly at his own friends.
BOOM!
Rodrick was given the biggest of all the linen bags, so heavy and overfilled he had no chance to pick it up from the ground. His friends finally felt at least slightly justified, but it didn't help Darius ease his mind. He was still furious from the abrupt shower of words from Fjalldís. He shot her one last hateful glance and carrying his load of things, he followed Aedan who had just stepped forth to lead them out of the town. All novices who watched the quarrel knew that this whole thing wasn't over yet.
The little audience broke up as they left to follow their teacher.
Magnus had finally realised that this was the opportunity he was waiting for. He rounded on Fjalldís to say “thanks” and apologize for the trip misunderstanding, but it seemed that he messed it up even before he said it out loud.
Fjalldís looked at him carelessly, giving him a short, airy look then turned and followed the trail of novices away from Magnus. She wasn't ready to forgive him yet.
Magnus gave a small sigh as he dropped his shoulders like a flaccid plant. He thought that nothing good had happened to him all day.
“What was that about? I really don't get her,” said Maren flatly, frowning at the leaving Fjalldís. She didn't even realise it, but she placed her hands on her sides. At this moment, she resembled her mum more than she would like!
“Come on, we should get going,” said Magnus in a downcast tone. As they turned to follow the others, Maren tried to stop him from thinking about what had happened. In a short while, they passed by the Black Squad that had set off to follow Aedan among the first novices and they were now shuffling in the back. They were busy carrying the bags, but Darius didn't forget to throw Magnus a venomous glance nonetheless.
The biggest and heaviest bag of all was carried by Rodrick. Or rather, dragged down through the streets and the cobblestone pavements. They passed a few abandoned shops. Wooden banners hanging above the doors suggested that they were a weapon shop, bakery and a clothes shop. Like everywhere else in this town, they were all exactly in the shape the owners had left them in. The shops were still filled with goods. One of Magnus' house mates, a small and constantly dishevelled boy named Lars who was scared of every little bug crossing the street, was lucky enough to spot a mouldy bread behind the glass. There was a bold lettering above that read:
THE FINEST BREAD IN ALL OF ARIA.
Come find the taste of paradise!
Lars felt his stomach lurch. He was one of the few novices who could read and write, and seeing more such letterings, he plunged back into the line and didn't look around again. It was better not to know what the other shops were “offering”.
The Black Squad kept cursing as they made their way down the street, carrying the heavy bags. It was only natural that the rest of the novices expected to hear a double load of curses when they return to the citadel.
When they finally crossed the gate of the town, shadowed by the tall towers and the tunnel they had just passed, they heard a muffled, yet ringing sound. They had been this sound for quite a while, but nobody gave it any importance. That is, until Henry, who walked among the last novices had noticed something that wasn't going to be the best news for one of his friends.
“Rodrick, your bag...” said Henry carefully, as though he was afraid to finish the sentence. He let Rodrick turn around and see for himself.
There was an abysmal line of wooden plates, mats and blankets of various colours, leading up the street and disappearing behind the corner. It wasn't hard to guess that there was much more.
Rodrick stopped, looking puzzled. He then suddenly moved to check the bottom of his bag, as though a ghost had whispered something into his ear. Well, if it was a ghost, he was right about what it said – there was a torn hole in the worn-out linen bag and almost nothing inside.
If Rodrick was consulted by ghosts, Aedan was consulted by the birds that were chirping all around. He must have heard one of them talking about the “disaster” in the back, because he turned abruptly and strolled past his novices up to the Black Squad who were standing around, unsure of what to do.
“Why did you stop? Are you so lazy that you can't even walk a few meters of the way down without complaining?” he snarled, but before he could get any answer he spotted the things scattered on the street. Aedan took a deep breath. “This happened because you're so weak that you can't even pick up a few feathers. If you lead your life like this, it will get scattered on the way too,” he said strictly, but a little less angrily this time. “You should eat more. And exercise more.”
Rodrick looked like a stuffed animal.
“What are you waiting for? Go get the things!” growled t
heir druid teacher impatiently. He must have learned this tone from the bears in the forest and it worked like a whip on his novices. “You there! Help him gather the stuff,” he said and shot a grim glance at Magnus who looked around several times to make sure his teacher was really looking at him. And to his misfortune, he was proven right.
Neither was Rodrick happy with Aedan's decision, but nobody dared to contradict him. After all, not even Maren and Magnus were dancing with joy but they had to do what their teacher told them to do nonetheless.
Magnus left Maren's side and along with murmuring Rodrick, he shuffled back into the town to gather the scattered things. And there were more than Rodrick thought he had carried.
The others were led farther along the serpentine trail. They were warned by the druid several times not to go too close to the edges. When they descended the trodden path, they crossed a small bridge that took them to the other side of the river, encrusted with green grass and fragrant flowers.
As soon as Aedan set foot on the soft grassy ground, his mood twisted rapidly like sunshine after a thunderstorm. He walked so gently and carefully, his novices could have sworn that he was floating. “Step gently, for Mother Nature deserves all the respect and gratefulness we can give Her,” he said, breathing heavily, as though he had seen the nature for the first time in his life. He forgot the two missing novices in seconds and clearly, he didn't care if they would find him once they were done with their work.
Magnus found luck in his misfortune as Aedan and the others didn't go too far away. But before discovered that, he had to take care of an entirely different matter. He gave a small sigh. “We'll never collect it all like this. We need another bag,” he said as he crouched to pick up a wooden plate and dropped several other items to the ground at the same time.
Rodrick hated that he had to suffer the presence of this little scarecrow and even more so that the time had come when he was forced to speak even one word to him. He was watching Magnus with narrowed green eyes and a scowled face. Then, all of a sudden, his expression changed as if he put on a mask.
“Yeah, you're absolutely right. I think we should go back to the dining room,” he said innocently.
“But how? I'm not sure if we have enough time,” said Magnus, looking quite bewildered.
“Pffft,” Rodrick snorted and waved his hand carelessly, “We'll take a short-cut.”
“What short-cut? I don't know about any, I just came here today –”
“But I do. Sometimes you just have to open your eyes in order to see, you know?” said Rodrick, a bit less patiently this time.
Magnus noticed that Rodrick rolled his eyes and mumbled something under his breath. There was no doubt that Rodrick still considered him an idiot, but Magnus didn't get provoked. He decided to play his silly game even if it was as easy to see as if he was looking through a clear window pane. “All right then. Where did you see it?”
“There,” Rodrick said shortly as he immediately pointed in a direction that was, according to Aedan's rules, strictly forbidden for them to enter. It was a street beyond the marked road. “We'll just leave the stuff here and come back for it later.”
“But we shouldn't be going there, should we? Aedan has forbidden it,” Magnus said in a highly concerned tone as he looked in the direction that Rodrick had shown him. It was a narrow shady street that disappeared among the houses.
“Aedan's not here,” Rodrick said curtly, a hint of insolence in his voice. He stood right in front of Magnus and looked directly into his eyes. “What's the matter, hero? Are you afraid?”
There was a pause. Although Magnus was aware that Rodrick was a member of the gang that was mocking him a while ago, he felt much more confident now. It was just him and Rodrick, one against one. That was a fair number that made him feel brave enough to defend himself. “No,” said Magnus in a peevish voice. He slammed the things he had been holding on the nearest low wall. It followed a steep pathway that led somewhere up among the houses behind them. Magnus didn't like when someone doubted his courage. Something in Rodrick's voice sounded like a challenge and he certainly didn't intend to chicken out. He had survived the attack of one of the Ragnan night monsters; this had to be a piece of cake! “So, what's the plan?” asked Magnus seriously. His grim expression must have suggested that he had already known it was some kind of a trap, because it seemed that Rodrick was doing some quick thinking. And then he scooted off without warning.
Rodrick dashed in front, jumped over the rope that marked the allowed paths and when he had a good lead, he shouted: “The one who comes to the dining room last will be officially announced a weakling!”
Of course Magnus was interested in who he was. But he certainly didn't want to find out that the answer he was searching for was just “a weakling”! He didn't hesitate and immediately ran after Rodrick who was already quite far away.
They bolted through the shady street like two bullets that were shot off with great force. The one in front wasn't Rodrick though. It looked like Magnus was a pretty good runner, too good for Rodrick to beat him in this race. He soon understood he didn't stand a chance against Magnus. But what to do? He definitely didn't want to be announced a weakling in front of all the novices.
Rodrick suddenly stopped. His witty mind quickly thought of a good use for the well that was located in the middle of the narrow street. After all, Magnus seemed to be very kind-hearted.
When Magnus was about to turn right and disappear into the courtyard through a passage in the wall, he stopped and quickly looked around his shoulder. There was no sound of Rodrick running after him. Actually, he hadn't heard him for quite a while. Perhaps he chose a different road? Magnus was thinking, but then he got the answer to his question. The ginger-haired boy was standing next to a well that Magnus rushed by a moment ago. It seemed that he was sad or even crying.
The boy was leaning over the well, probably looking at something at its bottom. Magnus waited, but when he saw that Rodrick wasn't leaving, he slowly walked over to the well.
Rodrick finally looked up. His face was all tears!
Magnus didn't even expect him to act this way around him. “What happened?” he asked, and although his sympathy towards Rodrick was very limited, he sounded rather concerned.
Rodrick gave a loud sob as if he had suffered the biggest loss possible. “I...” he said in a muffled voice, then sobbed again, “I accidentally dropped my card deck into the well!” he blurted out, tears dribbling down his face rapidly.
Could it be that Rodrick was more sensitive than he appeared? Magnus was quickly thinking. “I am sure you'll be able to buy a new deck in Ragna when we go there,” said Magnus soothingly, although he was still cautious.
“I don't want a new deck! I've had this one for as long as I can remember! My father gave it to me before his horrible, tragic death. I used to play with them back at home, when everything was...” Rodrick paused for a while, as though trying not to think of his painful past. He sniffed and dragged the rivers running from his nose back in. “I wanted to play cards with the boys this evening. How can we play now, without the cards?”
Rodrick or not, Black Squad or not, Magnus felt sorry for him. Maybe he really dropped the cards into the well by accident and it was just bad luck after all. “All right, all right, just calm down. I'll get them back for you,” Magnus said, trying to comfort Rodrick. But when he looked into the well, he instantly regretted what he had said. It wasn't one of the shallowest ones.
Magnus gulped as the first thoughts of fear invaded his mind. He pulled the rope that was tied to the well, but it didn't look very trustworthy. He heard Rodrick's voice somewhere behind him, thanking him for ten of his lives and praising him to the skies, while Magnus watched the dust from the edges fall into the darkness of the deep pit. What had he bargained for again?
After a short while of thinking whether to go down or not, Magnus tied the other side of the rope around his waist and in the next moment he was descending down the slippery rou
nd wall. He was doing quite well aside his foot slipping several times, making his heart almost jump out of his body. In a while, he spotted Rodrick's card deck, tightly closed in a small wooden box. Magnus didn't even want to think about what would happen if the cards weren't closed.
The card box was lying on a large, flat rock right near the bottom of the well. Magnus descended slowly, but as soon as he set foot on the rock, he slipped again. If he wasn't tied with the rope, he would have surely ended up sprawled on the ground. In this cave everything was slippery. Wait a minute. A cave? That's right! And when Magnus picked up the card box and looked around, he understood that not only the citadel had underground corridors. It was more than certain that there was a vast dungeon beneath the whole town, making its way deep into the rocks it was built on.
Magnus shook from the cold. He would have already climbed up if his eyes didn't catch another interesting sight. There was a small fissure in the ceiling that cast a thin ray of light from the surface down on a small isle in the midst of the cave room. It was enclosed with water, certainly freezing cold water, and in the middle there stood a pedestal made of stone. Magnus couldn't see it well, but that didn't bother him. What was most intriguing was the item sitting on top of the pedestal.
If it wasn't for the thin ray of light, he would have never seen the crystal ball that lay beneath it. Even from a distance it seemed to be completely clear. Magnus' eyes opened wide in amazement. Only two questions remained in his mind. Where did the crystal ball come from and what was it used for?
While Magnus kept gazing curiously at the mysterious ball, Rodrick had already felt the joy of his victory. “Well? Are you okay down there?” he shouted in a slightly mocking tone. The deep hole gave his voice a strong echo.
It took a while for Magnus to react. If they weren't in a hurry, he would have had loosened the rope and went to look at the little round miracle on the pedestal. “Yeah, I'm fine,” he said in a distant tone.
That surely wasn't the answer that Rodrick wanted to hear, but then he realised he could relax again. If the little scarecrow wanted to climb all the way up on the rope, he would need strong and firm muscles. And Magnus didn't have those.
Drakonika (Book 1) Page 13
