“What's wrong?” Henry said in a confused tone.
“We have to find her,” Darius said resolutely.
“What? Are you crazy? Why should we care about her?” Viktor retorted, but that didn't seem to change the decision of their leader.
“Will you finally put two and two together? That lake is dangerous!” Darius said swiftly. Without hesitation he rushed forward, but when he realised that nobody was following him, he turned back. Viktor's unyielding voice answered his previous question.
“I can put two and two together. The result is that you want to play saviour to that scrubby goblin, but you'll have to do it alone. Don't count on us. She's got nothing to do with us,” he snarled.
“So now you think she's a goblin? What's the matter with you? I thought we always band together!” breathed Darius disbelievingly. But the only answer to that was the screeching of ravens, echoing from above.
Darius returned Viktor's scowl, but his next words were addressed to all of them.
“All right, be a band of cowards then. Without me,” he said with finality in his voice. Then he turned and muttering “traitors” under his nose, he strode to the courtyard exit. But just when he thought he had lost his friends for good, Rodrick strolled past him in such a hurry he almost ran into him.
“I'm going with you,” he said, panting. His green eyes reflected deep loyalty. That brought a faint smile back to Darius' face.
“Let's go then,” he said, sounding a little brighter. As soon as he said that, two other boys caught up with them — Giselbert and Henry. It was good to know that his friends were still loyal to him, but Viktor stayed behind and that seemed to disappoint him the most. Serena stayed too as she clearly agreed with everything that Viktor had said.
“What a fool,” Viktor said scornfully, watching the rest of his gang disappear into the distance. “Let's eat our lunch,” he added airily and together with Serena he left back to the dining room.
As soon as Darius and his friends came into the woods, Henry stopped.
“Hey, what's in that lake?” he said, sounding rather concerned.
“I don't know,” Darius replied quietly as he walked.
“But you saw something in there, didn't you?” Henry continued.
Darius stopped, rounding on him. He opened his mouth to say something, but it took him a while to spit it out.
“I saw... I saw a face, all right?” he said curtly, but the tone of his voice disclosed that he thought it could be something dangerous.
His friends trembled from head to toe, without an exception.
“S-so there was a person? In the water?” Rodrick stuttered, looking horrified.
“Dead?” gasped Giselbert with a frightened look.
“I hope so. Because if not, he'll eat us all for snack-bars,” Darius retorted impatiently as he rolled his eyes. “Now move it. We have to find her before the jester-hero does.” With these words he turned again and strode farther into the forest. The others followed him, but they kept asking curious questions.
“Why? Does it really matter if he gets there first?” Rodrick said, jumping over the stones encrusted with green moss.
Darius turned around so suddenly that Rodrick almost bumped into him again.
“It does matter,” he growled, slapping a gnat on his face.
When they saw their leader's seriousness and firm expression, they decided to follow him without talking. At least for now.
*
Magnus dashed through the lanes of Sinei towards the entrance gate, meaning to run directly into the forest. But before he could even pass the street with their houses, Maren jumped in his way.
“Magnus, why are you doing this?” she said, looking both angry and terrified.
“Doing what?” Magnus said shortly.
“Acting weird.”
Magnus gave a short snicker.
“In case you haven't noticed — I am weird,” he said stoutly as he attempted to stroll by her, but she blocked his way again.
“Magnus, what's wrong with you? I don't recognise you!”
“You know what? I don't recognise myself either. But wait a minute, that's probably because I don't even know who I am!” Magnus said tartly.
Maren took a deep breath.
“Just calm down, okay? We don't know for sure where she is right now. And even if we did, I think she wants to be alone. When she comes back you can thank her a hundred times. Let's wait,” she said swiftly, sounding slightly affronted. There was a scent of jealousy in the air. Then she cast him a caring gaze, blushing slightly as she suggested, “We can go study at your house if you wish...”
There was a moment's silence, then Magnus smiled and his stern expression changed back into the kind and friendly face that Maren knew.
“All right. Let's go study at my house,” he said, suddenly sounding calm.
That was the first time Maren had entered Magnus' house, although it wasn't much different from hers. There were stone walls supported with wooden battens, a table on the left with two benches around it and the wooden floor carpeted in dark blue. But most importantly, in the right corner, there was a fireplace and heaps of chopped wood right next to it — probably Magnus' work.
They dropped their bags under the table, took a seat next to each other by the wall and pulled out their books — one about watermen and one about dragons.
“Do you think mythical beings could actually exist?” Maren said curiously. It was clear she considered this topic utterly exciting.
“I don't see a reason why not,” Magnus said, but that wasn't what Maren wanted to hear.
“Yeah, but... have you ever seen a waterman? Or a dragon?” she said gleefully, almost bursting into laughter as though it was completely absurd.
“Maren, I don't know. I don't remember anything from before I came to Ragna. But if there are monsters roaming Ragnan streets at night, I don't see a reason why watermen or dragons couldn't exist as well. Why would anyone make it up?” Magnus said, hoping he would not hear any more questions. Then he opened his book to the front page and Maren opened hers.
“Well, there are many strange creatures living in Aria, but these are considered myths only,” she said, unveiling some Arian knowledge to Magnus as she started browsing her book as well. Then she paused as one of the pages caught her interest. It sounded extremely intriguing.
“How to recognise a dragon? Dragons are cold blooded creatures that do not have the ability to warm themselves, therefore they need a regular gain of warmth from natural sources like sun rays or fire,” Maren read quietly. That sounded oddly familiar. She cast a furtive glance at Magnus who was frowning more and more, then she continued reading, “There are many kinds of dragons, but most of them can breathe destructive fire and –” she didn't have the chance to finish that, because the whole book had disappeared from under her nose.
“This is boring. I want to read about dragons,” Magnus said in an unsatisfied tone, holding Maren's book in his hands. It seemed he didn't like where her thoughts were going.
“What are you doing? That's mine!” Maren shrieked, trying to take her book away from Magnus, but he was too strong. “Read about your watermen.”
“No way! You're the one who's going to read about them!” Magnus decided, sliding his book on the table towards her.
“Absolutely not, it's yours. If it wasn't for me, you wouldn't even have that one,” Maren said curtly. She bashed the book about watermen against Magnus' chest in a way that if he didn't catch it, it would fall on the floor. But she had it back in a second — Magnus put it on her knees and bolted off from the table so that she couldn't give it back. Their attention was had completely drifted away from the book about dragons. On the other hand, they both focused on the one that neither of them wanted.
Maren hated losing. She instantly leaped to her feet, caring only about one thing, and that was getting the book about watermen where it belonged — to Magnus. In the very next moment, she managed to drop it behind
his tunic.
“No!” Magnus moaned, trying to get the book out.
For a short while, Maren's face lightened up with a victorious sneer, but it didn't last for long.
Magnus brought her down with all his weight, waving the book in front of her eyes. She pushed it away fiercely, but when she looked at him, her face turned red. “What are you doing?”
“I don't know,” Magnus said, looking rather confused.
There was an awkward moment of silence in which they just gazed into each other's eyes. Then they suddenly heard approaching voices.
Maren quickly pushed him away, but before they could get up, the door banged open. They both froze with a mortified look.
Elmar and Lars, Magnus' two house mates, gaped at them with uncertain expressions. Unable to say anything at the moment, the only thing they could do was exchange stunned looks, as if they wanted to make sure they really saw what they saw.
Although Magnus and Maren were just playing, they both briskly leapt to their feet. Magnus gave a false cough, swaying nervously on the spot.
“We were just studying,” he said swiftly, raising the book about watermen higher to show them he wasn't lying. Although it was impossible for the two boys not to see what they were doing when they opened the door, naive smiles appeared on their faces.
Maren and Magnus could finally breathe.
“Perfect, can we join you?” said Elmar eagerly. Neither of the two boys waited for an answer. They bounded in and settled down in front of the fireplace.
“Of course,” Magnus said, happy that they both took the bait. He joined them along with Maren who was finally able to grab the book about dragons.
Elmar's face brightened up even more.
“Did you know? Aedan said that those who fail the test today would have to clean all our houses. Wash the linens, sweep the dust, clean the floors and windows and shoo all the spiders out,” he said with great enthusiasm in his voice, as if he was sure it wouldn't happen to him. “Everyone will hand over the books from the Mages Guild and write a summary from what they have learned,” he said, his eyes gleaming with joy.
Maren and Magnus exchanged unbelieving looks. How could he consider studying so exciting? But then they finally realised what he had said. A TEST!
“How much time do we have?” Maren said swiftly so they wouldn't lose another second with pointless chit-chat.
Lars' dishevelled head looked in the window's direction to see the approximate position of the sun, but no sun rays reached the room because the houses and lanes were too squished together.
“According to the light outside... I reckon, probably... well...” Lars said in uncertain tone, taking his time.
“How much time?!” Magnus repeated Maren's question impatiently.
“Well... about... an hour,” Lars said calmly. Obviously, he and Elmar had already spent some time studying.
“WHAT?!” Maren and Magnus cried, totally flushed with panic. They immediately opened their books and started skimming through them so fiercely, it was a wonder they didn't tear the pages.
“Quickly, quickly!” Maren screamed shrilly, as though her life was in grave danger. “So Dragons — many kinds, cold blooded, the ability to breathe fire. Most of them have huge strong wings, can fly, blah blah blah,” she was reading aloud, pointing her finger at the words.
“Waterman — the spirit of water embodied, legends about them can be found anywhere near water areas,” Magnus said, looking into his book.
“Save other things, dragons have also great abilities in magick and telepathy,” Maren continued, her hands shaking.
“According to folk demonology, the waterman is a fallen angel who had been dropped into water when rejected from Heaven,” Magnus said, then he paused and remained in thought for a while. “What is Heaven?” he asked, but his friends were busy with their own studies. “Sheesh, I'm in bigger trouble than I thought,” he muttered as his eyes darted back into the pages of his book at once.
“Dragons are noted for their enormous strength, hard bones, claws and fangs,” Maren said quietly, shivering all over.
“Watermen are generally malevolent beings who enjoy causing harm to humans and they drown inexperienced swimmers in order to get their souls.”
Maren stopped reading for a moment, listening to Magnus' words.
“They can easily turn into the shape of any animal, item or even the water breeze itself. They control the water life and they often send a golden fish to the lakeside in order to lure a person in,” Magnus kept reading, sounding more and more frantic. “To make his magick work, he needs at least a drop of water. He is strongest in his element. If he begins to dry, he weakens very quickly. Among all things, he enjoys catching spirits of young girls the most.” At these words, Magnus paused. His frightened gaze met Maren's which didn't look any calmer.
“Fjalldís!” he shouted. In less than a minute they were both ready to bolt out, leaving bewildered Lars and Elmar to study alone.
XIII. Damsel in Distress
The day was slowly nearing its end. Golden sun rays slid across the rooftops of Ragnan houses, throwing webs of shadows into the streets and lanes. The tall walls and the entrance gate played their role in this light-play as well.
Eagle and Jackal were impatiently waiting for the tower at the main square to chime eight o'clock. They couldn't wait to get out of the place where they spent thirteen hours every day. It was the stony arch of the town gate which was also the only place where they could find some retreat from the warmest days.
While Eagle was leaning against the wall in the passage, looking utterly bored and silently enduring the last minutes of his duty, Jackal's nerves couldn't stand it any more, so he had found something with which to pass his time. It was quite a while since he had started counting the stone blocks of the passage arch.
“One hundred an' forty four, one hundred an' forty five, one hundred an' forty... seven,” he kept counting blankly.
Eagle cast him a grumpy look, fed up with Jackal's mumbling. But his colleague didn't pay it any attention and the babbling continued.
“One hundred an' forty six, one hundred an' forty eight, one hundred an' forty... seven,” Jackal counted on, his eyes sliding from the top of the arch. But before he could reach the bottom, his gaze landed on Eagle's worn helmet. He frowned and took a deep breath, doing his best to remember the last number he had counted. “One hundred an' fifty nine... one hundred an' fifty nine...” Jackal said in a greatly focused voice, repeating it at least six times. Then he finally shot Eagle a furious stare. “Eagle, ge' out of ma' way. Can't keep countin',” he said insolently.
As an answer to Jackal's comment, there was a blunt sound of hands gloved in leather and steel, clapping slowly. “Bravo, Jackal, bravo. I didn't know you could count,” Eagle said pointedly, but Jackal didn't seem to get the joke. His face reflected great pride.
“There still many things yeh dunno 'bout meh,” he bragged.
Eagle couldn't help letting out a snigger as he was looking at his worn steel boots, shaking his head in disbelief.
“You know, while you were counting the stone blocks on the wall, I was counting all the mistakes that you made. There were exactly sixty three of them.”
It seemed his partner didn't believe one word of what Eagle claimed to have witnessed. Jackal waved his hand carelessly as he wanted to continue counting, but then his eyes bulged in dismay. Not only had he forgotten where he was in his counting, he also forgot how many blocks he had already counted! When Eagle finally looked up, Jackal was in a very bad state.
“To the Darkest Pit with yeh, Eagle!” Jackal blurted out, his voice skipping. He jerked his helmet off with one fierce move and kicked a small stone out of the town gate.
Jackal was going crazy from anger, but Eagle didn't care. He wouldn't let such unimportant things taint his peace. Just the opposite — he remained absolutely calm.
“Listen, Jackal — You shouldn't be taking your helmet off, we're still on
duty,” Eagle advised him.
“Why should I care?!” Jackal snapped, still facing the dusty road outside of the town. “Yeh scared o' wha'? We leavin' shortly. An' yeh kno' wha'? Screw 'is 'elmet!” he said angrily as he kicked his helmet away with all his strength. Then he clapped to sweep dust off his gloves, as though he had gotten rid of a heavy burden. But not even the fresh, gentle breeze seemed to cool his head enough.
“Finally. Yeh kno',” Jackal started derisively. “We even. Yeh didn't kno' I could count an' I didn't kno' that yeh such a chicken,” he said, clearly enjoying himself. “What did yeh think? That they'd come check on us? C'mon, Eagle, yeh kno' they don't care. No one will eva' come check on us, only a Saint ghost,” Jackal preached, but as he rounded back on Eagle, he swayed so much that he almost fell off his feet.
“Uh, good evening, Sir,” Jackal stuttered in fear. Seeing the grim face of the General Xanthar, he could only hope he wouldn't lose his head soon. This was exactly what everyone hated about Xanthar the most — he always appeared out of nowhere like a wraith, without any warning.
“Unfortunately for you, I am not a Saint,” Xanthar said in an unimpressed tone and as he strolled past Jackal, he shot him a long, tough gaze.
Jackal's knees trembled. Eagle's mocking snickering didn't exactly help him calm down, but he seemed to be relieved that the general was now gazing in a completely different direction.
“You two are lucky that no one wants this lousy job, otherwise I would have already found a replacement,” Xanthar said flatly, watching the tree tops basking in the golden sunlight. Then his gaze landed on the helmet lying in the grass near the town gate and Jackal froze in fear. But it seemed that the general was in a good mood so he decided to overlook that simple mistake. “Actually, I have a job for you,” he continued, giving them a significant look. “Finally you will have a chance to prove yourselves useful.”
Drakonika (Book 1) Page 23
